I rubberbanded a new queen (in a cage) to a frame yesterday and it broke as I was putting it on....the only other one I had on me at the moment was very thin and had cracks. It won't take much for the bees to break it off. I'm worried it will come off before the queen is out and that the cage will fall in a way that will not allow her to break free. I have read that it isn't good to check on a queen until a few days after she is in the hive or else the bees could turn on her. Would it be ok for me to check on her a day after putting her in the hive?
If I was concerned about the cage falling and the queen not being able to get out, I would definitely check it.
I don't put my queen cages between frames for the reasons you're stating. I have a top cover that is about ¾" tall that I use when installing a queen. I just set the queen cage on the top of the frames and put my tall top cover on the hive and leave them be for a while.
I usually pop the top off after 4 days to see if the queen has been released. If not, I do a direct release at that time. Having the cage on top of the frames makes this all so much simpler. I later replace my ¾" tall top cover with one that obeys bee space.
Not sure of what kind of cage you had. I press mine into the comb a little to hod it when I pull the other frame against it. CAn you not inspect positon of cage without moving frames in brood nest. I think that would be fine and maybe reassuring for you.
Yes, I would go in and check it, the workers need to get to her and having two sides open is better then one. As for how to introduce a queen: on my first hive I used foundations that needed to be drawn out so I used a small piece of screening and stapled her package over frames 5 and 6 (10 frame hive). After four days the workers were easy to move off her cage, so I did a direct release. -Mike