[Bob Bee]

I haves a swarm on April 23, I've been checking them for eggs or anything capped. I was told it could be 2-10 days before I could see capped brood. I checked today and I only see a little capped sugar water and maybe 20 or so cells with pollen.
I order a queen today that I hope will be here Sat.
Should I just let the bees release her like normal?
What does it look like with workers on the outside of the queen cage if they are not liking her for some reason?
Thanks Bobby

 

[Joseph Clemens]

In a traditional screen-wire covered cage antagonistic bees bite the wires and try to bite the queen if any part of her body gets close to, or sticks through the wires. They also cling to the cage wires so strongly that it is very difficult to remove them without lots of extra persistent force. When they are accepting of the queen inside the cage they still cling firmly, but it is a little easier to get them to change their positions on the outside of the cage and even get them to leave the cage (they usually return promptly). An extra reason I recently discovered, for using the JZsBZs plastic queen cages is that workers, hostile to the queen inside, will frequently shove their heads through the plastic cage bars, even to the point of decapitating themselves in their attempts to attack the queen.

 

[RayMarler]

If it was a swarm with a virgin queen then it could take 3 weeks to see capped brood. You might want to hold off on introducing a queen unless you inspect through and are sure that swarm is queenless.

 

[Bob Bee]

Thanks folks,

RayMarler, I didn't realize it could take 3 weeks to see capped brood. When I hived them they were on the ground on a white sheet. i could see one bee that looked different than the others just walking around in the swarm but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to her but since she did look different, I scooped her up and poured her into the Nuc, most of the rest went in by night. She just didn't look queen pic's that I've seen here, kinda of small and thin.
I'm gonna try to spot that one again today, I'm really terrible at seeing a queen anyway.

Thanks Bobby

 

[RayMarler]

A swarm with a virgin queen can take about 14 days to be mated and laying, then it takes another 10 days or so for brood to be capped. Could take 3 to 4 weeks for sealed capped brood. Depends on weather. swarm strength, nectar flows, etc.

 

[Batman]

I have my own thoughts as to why a swarm would leave with a virgin queen, but what's the actual reason?

Craig

 

[Bob Bee]

Well,

This is day 18 since I caught one of my swarms, I took a look at the Nuc at lunch today and see capped sugar water, small amount of pollen, no capped brood and as best as I could see no queen.
I had ordered a queen from Kelly that came in today so I stuck her cage in, waited about 5 min and had a lot of bees clinging to the cage but they were easy to move around or off, didn't seem to be biting it. I left it in with the candy side cork removed. I'll check this afternoon also, anything else that I should look for when looking at the cage?

Really appreciate the help here!
Bobby

 

[RayMarler]

Sounds good Bob, now it's wait and see. If they kill the new queen then they already have one, otherwise they'll accept her with pleasure. Sounds like they are queenless and want her to me now.