[Tom Chaudoir]

I bought a queen and did a split. Didn't know which had the queen so followed the excellent directions from you folks and waited to see which made queen cells. One did, the other didn't. Perfect. That's where the new queen went.

Here's the thing. I didn't destroy the queen cells. At the time I was thinking that the hive would prefer a laying queen to a couple of virgins and take care of things. Since the bees have proved me wrong over and over, I should know better. So now I'm wondering if I'll get to keep my new Carniolan queen. (The hive was Italian.)

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[beecron]

I would have removed any queen cells. I think that she will probably kill them as she finds them, but not totally sure if that will be the case. One or two may emerge and take her on.

 

[Michael Bush]

A laying queen probably won't kill the queen cells. The bees will likely kill the laying queen since they have queen cells already. If you really wanted acceptance you should have removed the queen cells. You can always put the frame with the queen cells in a nuc and let them finish them.

 

[Tom Chaudoir]

Thanks. That's kind of what I was afraid of.

The queen cells were started on the 12th. The eggs were about 4 days old if I understand it. That makes them about 17 days old today.

I don't have any nucs yet.

So let's say I open the hive today and look for uncapped brood. That would mean that the new queen laid it. Right? In that case she wasn't dispatched, at least right away. Let's also suppose that the queen cells are still closed.

If I take those cells out, what do you suppose my chances are?

Nuts. I just checked Michael's bee math page. The cells may already have opened.

If I find that they have not, and do see open brood: What say?

 

[Michael Bush]

If you find open brood the laying queen was accepted. Your queen cells probably were either destroyed or they emerged by now. Sometimes a queen cell takes 17 days, but that's usually in cool weather and this isn't the time of year that you get much cool weather. Sometimes in hot weather they will emerge in 15 days.