Remained in the morning the lever and 4 screws while the box was upside down below. It was not properly secured to withstand medium to high winds combined with heavy rains. The rescue did not go without much loss. The frames had been built by these bees hanging from wedges, they had collapsed in the fall and many bees were drowsy covered with honey or nectar. It was not clear whether I could save this colony. I did not bother to find the queen, it was urgent to place these bees in a safe and proper hive. I moved them into the bee barn right away in the last available Langstroth hive.

One week after the transfer, on May 25 2019, the bees are doing fine and seem to display the behavior of a right queened colony. Furthermore The queen seems to be in the upper box, the lower box is separated by a queen excluder so the bees remain in a 42 liter volume to promote frequent swarming. I will keep on monitoring this colony, I feel better now than when I transferred it.