One of the queens did not survive the formic acid treatment, and to make matters worse, the replenished queen did not return from her wedding flight. So the unfortunate colony had now been "hopelessly wise" for two weeks, clearly recognizable by the "howling" of the bees. Without the garden beekeeper's help, the colony would have been doomed to die.

Today a new mated queen was added to the colony, in a small cage with sugar dough closure. Within a few seconds the bees notice the presence of the queen by her scent and surround the cage. They immediately begin to raise their abdomen and signal their sisters: "Here she is, our new mother!". Now they only have to eat out the sugar dough plug to have mummy with them.

How the bees are happy about their new queen :-)

Formic acid is a devilish stuff, but unfortunately it is absolutely necessary for the survival of bee colonies.

As much as the garden beekeeper's heart bleeds when he loses a queen, he and his bees are happy about the new hive mother.