how do hives kill rejected queens?

[rober]

I introduced several new queens into splits last week. while checking them I found a queen that must have just been released on a frame being mauled. the hive had eaten thru the candy in the cage in just 2 days. she was on her back & covered by a mound of bees that were acting aggressive but were not stinging her. I picked her up & got her back into a cage, put 2 mini marshmallows in the cage hole, put tape over the candy, & put her back in the split. there is definitely not a queen nor are there any queen cells in this split. I've not been able to check on her due to weather but should get a chance to do so tomorrow.

[Bakersdozen]

I have seen queens balled and bitten. 
I have always released the queen myself.  I like to watch her crawl out of the cage, so I leave the cork in place for at least 3-4 days.  Before releasing her I check the workers reaction to her in the cage.  If you can brush the bees off of the cage and they slowly return, that is a good sign.  If they are on her cage like white on rice, that's a bad sign.
You didn't say any thing about eggs or brood in the hive but perhaps you have a laying worker present?  In the case of a laying worker I have had a very difficult time requeening.

[rober]

i gave them 2 frames of brood when I made the split so no laying workers. their reaction to the cage was normal. i always backcheck when installing queens to make sure they haven't made any queen cells after the fact. i actually wasted money buying queens as i could have made all these splits with frames with swarm cells. a little slower but usually a sure thing. i ended up with more splits than i need or want because of the swarm cells. it's always a da**ed if you don't & da**ed if you do when buying queens this time of year. i'll try selling some late nucs. if i don't i'll my hive count will be in the 60's.

[Bakersdozen]

I bet there will be buyers for those late nucs.  There are always people asking if there are any bees for sale later in the spring.

[LazyBkpr]

I have seen a "NEW" queen mauled if doing an inspection and upsetting the hive too soon. I am unsure if they are blaming her for the intrusion, or if they just need something to be annoyed about so take it out on the newest member of the hive?   Back when I had that happen I looked it up, and found several references to similar problems when releasing new queens.  Its been a while since I had that happen and read up on it.  From then on when I check for release I lift the cage out, if shes gone I close the hive and wait at least a week to actually dig in and look for eggs... not saying thats what happened to you Rober, just pointing out "a" possibility.

[rober]

I'll be checking on her this morning. hopefully she survived. she seemed okay when I re-caged her. I've seen bad reactions to queens in cages but never an attack on a free moving queen. I have 2 splits with MIA queens so I'm assuming they weren't accepted. these were local. I've yet to have good results from this breeder so I'll not use his queens again. the accepted queens were from 2 breeders in Ca.. some were ordered by me & some were from a friend's order who'd bought too many. as soon as they arrived I discovered all the swarm cells. so instead of 15 splits I ended up with 25 & I'm still finding swarm cells.