She should be fine. I was installing a package once, and did a direct release as the queen had been in the package 5 days. rather than running down into the hive, she took flight. all I could think to do as she began to clear the stockade fence was to swat her down. I them picked her up and placed her in the hive, she was marked so I know it was the same queen, she lived a long productive life. Yours should too!
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And I thought things like this only happened to me.
Just this spring I was requeening some hives and making some nucs with queens in JZ BZ cages. I had a box of them and thought I would lean up against the side of the truck to let the attendants out of the cage one at a time before introducing the queens in the cages to the hives and nucs.
About 10 queen cages into it i had a queen come up quickly and I didn't get my finger over the hole fast enough. There she goes flying up and down the length of my pick up truck with me following along trying to grab her out of the air. She finally flew in the open window of the truck flying along the inside of the windshield. Talking to myself the whole time, I thought good I got her now, only to realize I left the keys on the tail gate so I couldn't close up the windows. Out she goes down the other side of the truck and into the bed with a cap on it. I close the gate crawl in and close the back window of the cap and crawl around in there for 5 minutes trying to trap her without squishing her. I finally got her, put her back in the cage with the attendants that were left inside and introduced her to the hive. I packed up the rest of the queens and went inside the truck, windows closed, to release the rest of the attendants.
checked on that queen the next day and she was the only one that was released and is doing her job just fine today, and I was a little rough on the capture.
I'm sure glad no one was around with a video phone to film that.
Just this spring I was requeening some hives and making some nucs with queens in JZ BZ cages. I had a box of them and thought I would lean up against the side of the truck to let the attendants out of the cage one at a time before introducing the queens in the cages to the hives and nucs.
About 10 queen cages into it i had a queen come up quickly and I didn't get my finger over the hole fast enough. There she goes flying up and down the length of my pick up truck with me following along trying to grab her out of the air. She finally flew in the open window of the truck flying along the inside of the windshield. Talking to myself the whole time, I thought good I got her now, only to realize I left the keys on the tail gate so I couldn't close up the windows. Out she goes down the other side of the truck and into the bed with a cap on it. I close the gate crawl in and close the back window of the cap and crawl around in there for 5 minutes trying to trap her without squishing her. I finally got her, put her back in the cage with the attendants that were left inside and introduced her to the hive. I packed up the rest of the queens and went inside the truck, windows closed, to release the rest of the attendants.
checked on that queen the next day and she was the only one that was released and is doing her job just fine today, and I was a little rough on the capture.
I'm sure glad no one was around with a video phone to film that.
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