[log in to unmask] wrote, > The queen then quickly escaped and took flight. > I was really upset watching her fly away... > After waiting a few days ... I discovered that > the marked queen had returned to the hive and > appears to be very healthy. I guess she absoloutly > had to mate upon being released. The purchased queen returned to the hive, probably while you were retrieving the queen cells from the other hive. Unless you specifically ordered a virgin queen, she was already mated when she arrived and would not fly off to mate again as you wrote. If a queen flies off while a beekeepers errs in introduction (been there, done that), she really has nowhere to go and will attempt to enter a hive. I have seen cases where she enters the hive one is trying to requeen and I have seen cases where she enters a different hive (one that was queenright and certain death). The best advise if a queen takes flight during a botched introduction is to leave the hive open for a few (say 5) minutes and hope she returns, then quietly close things up and come back in a few days to see how things developed. Worst case is the queen will be lost, at which time you can then introduce cells or eggs from a different colony to tide the hive over. If you are concerned about the lineage of the new queen, providing eggs will tide the hive over while you order and await a new queen, which can be introduced when she arrives after tearing down any cells the bees may start from the interduced frame that had the eggs. Aaron Morris - thinking l'il Bo Peep! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::