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Laying worker hive with new Queen cell

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
I have a hive that had laying workers and with the advice from beekeeps on this site was told to add frames of eggs and larvae. Well after 2 weeks and 3 frames of eggs brood and larvae, I now have a capped queen cell and did not see any fresh eggs in the hive. I also noticed the hive was much more active than usual. Is there any thing else I need to do? This was a new hive I started in May so I am still feeding them with a hive top feeder. If the queen cell is already capped I figure it must be at least 8 days old so should I recheck in 2 weeks to see if there is a queen?
Thanks
Jeff
 
#2 ·
the hive was queenless, figure from the day you added the frames of eggs, then assuming the bees would have grabbed the first 1 day larva to make a queen, add 5 days, that is when the cell would have been capped, the queen will emerge 8 days after that, it will then take her between 7 and 19 day to begin laying with the average being 12. If your resources permit I would add a frame of brood once a week just to keep the colony happy and in working order until the queen begins laying. be very careful not to remove the new queen when swapping frames. she may be hard to find. The bees may build more queen cells until the queen begins laying a good pattern. So don't let the presents of new queen cells freak you out.
 
#3 ·
>I now have a capped queen cell and did not see any fresh eggs in the hive. I also noticed the hive was much more active than usual. Is there any thing else I need to do?

If you continue to give them a frame of eggs it will probably help keep them going in the meantime until they have a laying queen. If the cell is capped it is 8 days old and will emerge sometime in the next 8. I'd allow three weeks before you'll probably see eggs. It could be as long as four.
 
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