How long after queen cell?

[AdamDCole]

Hey quick question... How long after I've seen capped queen cells should I go in to see if she is laying/alive? I want to make sure I see a good active queen before the population drops too far but I don't want to bust in there too fast and make them pissed at her

[Ricky Bee]

See Michael Bush's Bee Math.

[RayMarler]

She emerges 8 days after the cell is capped.
She should be laying 2 weeks after that.
So give it three weeks to see eggs, or a mated queen.
Sometimes it takes an extra week for her to mate and lay.
Best of luck.

[Tom Brueggen]

Just for grins, I'm going to throw a wrench in things. Feel free to disregard my comment, but it's food for thought. I just had a few queen hatch out about a week and half ago 6/22/12. According to the calendar, my mating flights should have been 6/27 and 6/28. I checked the hives on the 28th and found one queen had already been laying. Obviously this is not the average condition, but it's just something to think about. From a hobbyist standpoint I could afford to check the hive that soon. But on a large scale, it would be inefficient for a beek to check in that often. So the calendar allows for less intervention, and less time spent. Odds are better of finding eggs after a few weeks. I guess I just got lucky having such a proactive queen. Then again there is that chance that I am unlucky and she hurried her mating flights. I guess we'll just have to see what happens to see if she puts out a good laying rate. Good luck with your queens!

[Michael Bush]

It's a pretty big window. She could be laying as soon as 4 days after she emerges or three weeks after she emerges. But two weeks is the most common and reasonable expectation.

[Tom Brueggen]

I'm thinking so far I've been way too lucky with my bees. I've had only great results so far, including my seemingly ambitious new queens. I don't want to jinx it, but I'm afraid something bad is looming. After all the horror stories you hear about, it just seems I'm due...