I inspected my hive today, day 10, and I didn't see any larva. I started the hive with almost two full combs from a fellow beekeeper and now have almost five full combs. They are being fed sugar water. One week ago at my first inspection there was what I think was pollen on the first two combs; it was a clear liquid. I was hoping that that there were eggs and I just couldn't see them and I expected to see larva today. Three days this week the highs were in the mid to lower 50's and I warmed the sugar water each morning. Today 95% of the pollen was gone from the combs and there was no larva. The bees are still bringing in pollen, should I be concerned?
Day 10 Inspection Question - No Larva
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How confident are you that you could see eggs if there were some? They are extremely small. Pretty easy to miss.
Newly hatched larva are basically the same size and similarly difficult to see. They're almost entirely transparent.
Some queens take a couple of weeks to start laying though, assuming this was a package?
I would say that for several more weeks(!) you're not likely to [reliably ...] see anything useful. Leave the lid closed and the hive entirely alone for at least two more weeks. During this entire period, "post package," you're basically "running on package," not "running on Nature." Therefore, leave the package alone until Nature has a chance to take over.
Shouldn't I check on it at least once a week to make sure they aren't building any cross combs? In two more weeks it could be a disaster in there.
I make it a habbit to check my hives on a regular basis. Waiting weeks on end for something to happen isn't going to change the fact of whether or not your queen is laying or even if you have one at all.
IMO what you should do is continue to check in at least 1 time per week on your hive. Don't smoke heavily and look for signs of laying. Clear liquid is either nectar or sugar water, pollen has color to it. You can watch the landing board of the hive and see it on their back legs if they are bringing it home or not. But more so, when you open the hive, pay close attention to the cells and see if you see larva or eggs. Sometimes it can take up to 3 weeks for a queen to start laying once she has been packaged. If you see nothing by the end of the third week, then it may be time to see if you can find the queen, and possibly find a frame from another hive with eggs.
IMO what you should do is continue to check in at least 1 time per week on your hive. Don't smoke heavily and look for signs of laying. Clear liquid is either nectar or sugar water, pollen has color to it. You can watch the landing board of the hive and see it on their back legs if they are bringing it home or not. But more so, when you open the hive, pay close attention to the cells and see if you see larva or eggs. Sometimes it can take up to 3 weeks for a queen to start laying once she has been packaged. If you see nothing by the end of the third week, then it may be time to see if you can find the queen, and possibly find a frame from another hive with eggs.
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