Package Install - Let's try this again!

Both of my package hives died last year. Part of this might have been beginner beekeeper error - okay probably most of it. This year I am trying a package again. This time hopefully I can do a better job keeping Varroa under control (I did nothing for this last year) and recognizing queenlessness (which would have helped with the North hive).

Anyway, here are the bees - shaken into a box in North Georgia on Friday:

This looks like a lot more bees than were in my package last year. 

I did the usual bee shake procedure with some variation since the queen cage wouldn't fit between two drawn frames. Here's the best picture I could get of Her Majesty - not great since her attendants were crowding her a bit. She is bright orange.

After pulling out the cork on the candy end of the cage I pressed the side of the cage into a drawn frame put another frame against it and pressed again. This embedded the cage between the two frames of wax with the nylon strap sticking up between them. Getting the cork out of the cage was sort of a panicked procedure because I forgot to bring a screw or nail back with me and the hive tool didn't do a good job prying it out. Fortunately my 4-year-old was playing in the sandbox nearby and could be employed to get a nail. 

Dumping the bees in the hive it was apparent that this was a lot more bees than I put in last year. I stuck the frames with the queen between them in the hive, stuck the top on with some sugar water and let them be. An hour later the last of the bees from the box had found their way inside the hive. Here's a pic of the frames after putting them in, before closing the box up:

Let's hope this one does great! I'll check for a released queen in a few days.