OK, this is what happened today when I went up to visit the hive.
I did not smoke the bees because I truly wanted to see what is up with these bees and smoking them makes them a bit aggitated at first.
When I opened up the inner cover I was met with a very big surprise!! The bees were totally peaceful and calm and walking around all over the frames where the queen cage is. When I removed the queen cage, they still remained calm. There were a few bees walking around on the cage, but no biting, no running around frantic, and no clinging. When I tried to push them out of the way, they just moved aside no problem.
Well if I am going by vibe, well yes they have accepted her and so I just removed the plug on the cage and now they can eat out the candy plug and release her themselves. I placed her back in the hive and closed it up. I decided against directly releasing her, because I would rather let them gently release her. I will check again on Tuesday and if she is not released by then, well I will open up the cage and let her out.
I was more than ready to transfer her into a wire cage which I had with me. It is very possible they actually accepted her 2 days ago and I just could not recognize the signs.
I prayed really hard that whatever I did would be the correct decision. I still could be wrong, but I truly did my best and I accept the outcome now.
Thanks to all of you for sharing this adventure with me.
I will let you all know how this has turned out.
Annette