Sorry if this isn't quite the right place to post this, but I thought queen rearers would be the best informed on what might happen.
A very strong stock swarmed a week ago (we caught it and hived it on a new stand). Going through the stock to break down the queen cells yesterday, we found the new queens on the point of emerging. One ran down over the combs, and on an impulse I uncapped the other cells and in each case a fully developed queen emerged and ran down the combs (five in all). The weather has now turned cool and wet today and the bees aren't flying.
I'm hoping the virgins will have fought it out and that only one will remain in the hive ready to mate when the weather improves. However, is it likely/possible that the bees will keep several virgins alive (prevent them fighting) and try to swarm as soon as the weather improves? If so, we need to keep an eye on the stock.
We are planning to requeen each main stock with newly mated queens from nukes adjacent to the main hives (by uniting them having removed the old queens). How long (with good weather) does it normally take between the emergence of a virgin and successful and complete mating?
A very strong stock swarmed a week ago (we caught it and hived it on a new stand). Going through the stock to break down the queen cells yesterday, we found the new queens on the point of emerging. One ran down over the combs, and on an impulse I uncapped the other cells and in each case a fully developed queen emerged and ran down the combs (five in all). The weather has now turned cool and wet today and the bees aren't flying.
I'm hoping the virgins will have fought it out and that only one will remain in the hive ready to mate when the weather improves. However, is it likely/possible that the bees will keep several virgins alive (prevent them fighting) and try to swarm as soon as the weather improves? If so, we need to keep an eye on the stock.
We are planning to requeen each main stock with newly mated queens from nukes adjacent to the main hives (by uniting them having removed the old queens). How long (with good weather) does it normally take between the emergence of a virgin and successful and complete mating?