queen flew away. Now what?

[Nichota]

I made a split a couple weeks ago and the original queen failed in the nuc. I placed another frame of brood to help the bees make a knew queen. The made multiple queen cells on multiple frames that looked good. This afternoon i checked the nuc to see it had a laying queenthe queen and I observed a queen bee what she was not as long as other queens i have and she was skinny. When i was looking at her on the frame she flew away. The hive acted queenless when i opened it up and i didn't observe any eggs or brood.

Was this a virgin queen that will now go mate and come back (hopefully)?
Or was this just a small queen that will be lost forever?


Should i wait to see if the queen comes back or order a queen?

How do you tell the difference in a virgin queen and a mated queen?

[G'ville beek]

She'll be back,unless she gets eatin.

[ralph3]

She's a virgin queen doing the mating deal. Don't be surprised if she's not in there during the afternoon. I learned that the hard way. I jumped the gun thinking that it was a failure and put another hive in place of one. She was out on her flight. They balled her on entry and killed her.

Look for her after 7 pm mine i've observed are home by then. I'm within rock throwing distance of you. If for whatever reason it fails I may have a queen to spare. Planning on raising a few more in a couple weeks or so.

A mated queen will have eggs in some cells in your case and longer and fatter. If she mated out of that hive and just happened to fly off. She will know how to get back.

[pine_ridge_farms]

Yeah I have had them fly around the mating yard circling. Put the lid back on and check back and she will more then likely be in there

[Nichota]

Yall were right. I check the hive and she's back. Still no eggs though (that I could see).


Thanks again,
Adam

[ralph3]

Give her about a week and a half. After she just starts laying she'll fatten up bigtime. Should be laying within a week though.

[Keefis]

My new queen is fattening up as we speak. Made a split june24. I observed her upon hatching and she had a little butt. When I saw her this weekend, on her way home from a booty call i suppose, her butt was a bit bigger and pointier already. She also came home about 6 oclock, the time I saw her. Now your queen knows where the "club" is, she is going to party for a few days before she makes the hive commitment.