Another steep learning curve item. I got a new queen in her cage and she came with attendant bees. The weather had turned cold and nasty and I needed to search a hive that I had split in two to find out where the original queen was so I could install the new queen in the other one. So I opened the new queen package put in a clean soda cap of water and one of extracted honey. Next morning two attendants were dead. No big deal it happens I figured. By evening 2/3 of the attendants were dead and the four left were trying to groom the dying. I opened the box back up to remove the dead bees and they were all sticky. Meanwhile the queen was running around in her cage all upset. I removed the honey, the dead bees, and left just the water.
Next morning the last four attendants were still alive. I put up a tent, put in an electric heater, and did hive inspections in there. Installed queen and last four attendants. Time will tell.
I don't know what those bees did... Did they go swimming or what? The honey was from last year out of hive I split - don't think it was contaminated in any way. I have fed the same comb in frames to a weak hive with no problems. Weird.
JC
I think just a couple drops with an eye dropper would have been sufficient. How large was your queen cage? I know most queen cages I have received had a queen and four or five attendants total.
http://www.bees-online.com/QueenCage.htm (http://www.bees-online.com/QueenCage.htm)
They drowned. I stick my finger in the honey and rub the screen. That's all they need.
My friend had picked up the queens from a beek about an hour away. Each queen came with about 15 attendants roughly. I guess that is more than usual. Drowning - that is kind of what I suspected was going on. I guess they just don't know what to do with honey in that quantity and form. I keep learning....
JC
The problem is that they are trying to find a way out, not trying to find food and so they end up a sticky mess. Some candy or dry sugar and a drop of water a day would have been a better bet.