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How long after queen cell?

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Tom Brueggen 
#1 ·
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 :)
 
#4 ·
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!
 
#6 ·
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...
 
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