Split: Queen question?

[Jdlmax]

I did a split on the Easter morning the 24th of April. I put it into a five frame nuc, basically a walk away split. I checked on them a week later and found two Queen cups with larva in them so I was happy. I checked on them again yesterday the 7th of March which would be day #13 and found nothing. I expected to find Queen cells in those two locations but there was no evidence of them. Could they have hatched out already? I read M. Bushes website and he says 15 to 17 days from the egg. If they had started a queen from a 3 or 4 day old larva would this be possible? Could a Queen cup be capped and hatch out within a week? Or did something go wrong? Should I give them another frame of eggs and brood or wait and see?
Also I see that a lot of beeks consider queens started from larva as inferior but M. Bush says that the actual Queen feeding change doesnt start until the larva is 3 or 4 days old anyway so it really shouldnt matter correct?
Thanks
Jerry

[AmericasBeekeeper]

It might be a word misunderstanding. The larva has to be one day old, 4 days after the queen placed it.

[Jdlmax]

Yes you are right I misunderstood, read it again and it is from the fourth day on from egg.
So I guess something went wrong, I guess at this point I should add another frame of eggs and brood? any suggestions?

[Mosherd1]

Give them a frame of eggs and young larvae. They should start queen cells in a couple of days.

[Michael Bush]

>I did a split on the Easter morning the 24th of April. I put it into a five frame nuc, basically a walk away split. I checked on them a week later and found two Queen cups with larva in them so I was happy. I checked on them again yesterday the 7th of March which would be day #13 and found nothing. I expected to find Queen cells in those two locations but there was no evidence of them. Could they have hatched out already?

They will start with a four day old larvae (four days from the egg being laid). So they will be capped four days after that. They will emerge eight days after being capped (12 days after making them queenless)

>I read M. Bushes website and he says 15 to 17 days from the egg. If they had started a queen from a 3 or 4 day old larva would this be possible?

They will always start with a 4 day old.

>Could a Queen cup be capped and hatch out within a week?

A week? No. 12 days? Yes.

>Or did something go wrong? Should I give them another frame of eggs and brood or wait and see?

That is always the best insurance.
]
>Also I see that a lot of beeks consider queens started from larva as inferior but M. Bush says that the actual Queen feeding change doesnt start until the larva is 3 or 4 days old anyway so it really shouldnt matter correct?

An egg is not being fed. When the larvae hatches it is being fed the same as a queen for the first day. An emergency queen CAN be inferior. It is all related to feeding. For maximum feeding and care you need a LOT of bees. In order to get a high quality emergency queen from a nuc it needs to be overflowing with bees.

[Jdlmax]

Thanks for the replies cleared up a lot of my confusion on this issue, this was my first split attempt.
I did install another frame of eggs and young brood on May 8th and checked them again this morning May 11th. I pulled the new frame first and found no sign of Queen rearing going on so I pulled the frame next to it and found a hatched Queen cell that I didnt see on my first insp. So, I guess I have a queen, will check them in another week and see if she is laying.

In order to get a high quality emergency queen from a nuc it needs to be overflowing with bees.

This nuc is not overflowing with bees but there is a lot of pollen and nector coming in hopefully she will be adequate.