Egg question

[JoeMcc]

Hi again...

I was just doing some reading about queens and the egg life cycle. What is considered day one for an egg? Is the day its laid or is "day one" 24 hours after the eggs are laid? If im reading it right...the egg hatches at +/- 72 hours after it's laid?

JoeMcc

[sqkcrk]

Day one starts the moment the egg is laid and ends 24 hours later.

[JoeMcc]

If using the Jenter or similar system....do you have to wait for hatch to put in the cell builder hive? Why can you you offer the eggs to the cell builder?

JoeMcc

[WG Bee Farm]

Don't offer eggs to the starter. Us only less that 24 hour larva. Eggs will be eaten out of the cells.
Frank

[JoeMcc]

Well im giving it a shot. Eggs are being layed today (Wed eve - Thusday). So I will release the queen this evening and transfer the cups to the starter on Moday night???

JoeMcc

[Michael Bush]

>Well im giving it a shot. Eggs are being layed today (Wed eve - Thusday). So I will release the queen this evening and transfer the cups to the starter on Moday night???

On day one the egg is 0 days old. On day four the egg is 3 days old. When the egg is 3 1/2 to 4 days old it will hatch. If you confined the queen on Wed evening, then four days later (Sunday) most of those eggs will have hatched and be ready to transfer. All hatched ones will be the perfect age. By Monday all of them should have hatched and some will be older than I prefer and the rest are just right. They will do fine.

[JoeMcc]

For some reason she failed to lay eggs. Im thinking it was the heat. It was hot yesterday and hotter today. It's supposed to be cooler on Monday so I will try again.

JoeMcc

[BEES4U]

Look at the question like filling out a time card.

8:00 a.m Monday to 8:00 a.m. Tuesday = 1st 24 hours.
Tues.-Wed. = 2nd 24 hours
Wed. - Thursday = 3rd 24 hours with eggs hatching after this point in time with all factors permitting.

Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries

[BerkeyDavid]

or some reason she failed to lay eggs. Im thinking it was the heat. It was hot yesterday and hotter today. It's supposed to be cooler on Monday so I will try again.


In my limited experience this is the trouble with confinement systems. I had this problem all summer. I finally simply took a frame with eggs and newly hatched larvae and grafted from that, with good success (28 cells from 36 grafts)

For some reason my II queen just did not want to lay in confinement.

I will get a new II queen next year and try again.

[JoeMcc]

In my limited experience this is the trouble with confinement systems. I had this problem all summer. I finally simply took a frame with eggs and newly hatched larvae and grafted from that, with good success (28 cells from 36 grafts)

For some reason my II queen just did not want to lay in confinement.

I will get a new II queen next year and try again.

I tried using the same queen a while back before I had everything ready and she layed 18 eggs in confinement. Same queen refused to lay yesterday though. Maybe it was too stressful for her or the heat.

I think im going to take a queen class in March at UC davis. and learn how to graft if this doesnt work monday. I am also going to try it with my best queen now that I am comfortable with the caging.

JoeMcc

[BEES4U]

I found this method much easier and more natural.
Place a nice drawn out black brood comb next to the frame that the queen his laying eggs.
The bees will clean, polish the cells and the queen will lay eggs in it within 24 to 36 hours.
Go back and check the frame in four days.
If the queen is on the frame that you want to graft frome transfer her to another brood frame.

Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries

[JoeMcc]

I found this method much easier and more natural.
Place a nice drawn out black brood comb next to the frame that the queen his laying eggs.
The bees will clean, polish the cells and the queen will lay eggs in it within 24 to 36 hours.
Go back and check the frame in four days.
If the queen is on the frame that you want to graft frome transfer her to another brood frame.

Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries

I have to learn to graft... I sppose its not rocket science... but i have never done it.

JoeMcc

[Michael Bush]

The Jenter box needs to be put into the hive several days before you confine the queen in it. It also needs to be in the middle of the brood nest both when she is confined and when you are waiting for the eggs to hatch. It's getting late enough in the year that things are unpredictable at this point. If there is a dearth she may not lay at all.