Fall Requeen Question

[Pond Creek Farm]

I am re-queening a hive with a Sunkist queen.  An experiment really, but in getting ready to do so I ran into a few questions.  Picking the hive to re-queen turned out to be easy.  The target wound up having two full boxes of bees and zero honey.  The hives all around were not this way, and there was no evidence of robbing activity to explain the lack of honey.  In any event, I found and pinched the queen this evening and added three deep frames of capped honey that I froze from last year (I thawed it last night).  So, tomorrow when I insert the queen, do I removed the attendants?  Can I remove the wood plug covering the candy and slide her in on the bottom board or should I wedge the cage between a couple of frames?  Is there any reason not to start feeding this hive?  If not, I am assuming 2:1 is the proper mixture but please correct me if I am wrong.

[AllenF]

Just take the cage and pull out the cork but leave the candy in there.  Some take a nail and punch a small hole in the candy, but the bees will eat a way to get the queen out there in no time.   Leave the attendants in there.    Check them in a several days to make sure she got out.  I would not feed them just yet for fall.