...off with her head part 2

Because Queen Cassandra wasn't laying any worker bees, the supplier suggested that I replace her. He provided a new marked queen for me to replace her with. Replacing her is the equivalent to locating her, killing her, and then putting the new queen in the hive. I was so nervous about finding Queen Cassandra again. I haven't been that great at spotting queens, but now that I have had to so many times this season, I think I have it down. I found her with very little difficulty. I can't say the same for catching her. For some reason, I was terrified to grab her. I didn't want to squish her or pull off her wing; although, I planned to chop her head off when I got her out of the hive. I followed her around the frame for 2 minutes trying to grab her. She was just too fast. So I brushed her onto the ground, and scooped her up in a cup...very novice of me. Smashing this bee seemed so counterintuitive. You spend all your time as a beekeeper trying to keep your queen alive, and I was about to kill her. It had to be done, but it was really very sad. I actually cried the whole time I smashed her and the whole time I recorded the below video. I took video because I wanted to share the pumping abdomen so that you all can visualize what happens when you get stung by a honey bee. It was amazing how long her abdomen pumped...probably 4 minutes or so. This is why it is so important to remove the stinger from a sting as soon as it happens. The quicker you remove the stinger; the less venom will be injected.

Queen Cassandra ended up being a drone laying queen. When I started to do some research on this topic, there were several articles talking about the queen being damaged and then laying only drones. I went back to some earlier photos of her and blew them up. Upon closer inspection, her right wing appears to be damaged.

I had to wait for 24 hours before I placed the new queen in the hive. This is so the bees realize they are queenless and don't try to kill the new queen through the queen cage or when she is released. When going into the hive, I heard the telltale sign that a hive is queenless; a roaring buzz. The below video is of the roaring hive when I first went in and video of me placing the new queen into the hive. When I place the queen in the hive, notice how the bees flock to her cage.