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I have often read and observed that bees will show signs of cell construction about 3 days after becoming queenless.
In my present scenario I have been feeding in frames with brood to colony that came out of winter queenless. It is 4 or five frames now I have donated, and each time I have not seen cells started by day three. It seems like near the 5 day mark. (I am destroying them after capping as there are no drones flying to mate them.)
Not only are they not starting to work on available day or two old larvae, they seem to wait till the last egg available hatches and then start cells on that larvae when it is a day or two old. That can make quite a time lapse.
I have yet to find a cell capped in the time frame that would indicate that bees will choose an older, less suitable larvae if they have choices.
Has anyone else been perplexed when testing for queenlessness and been nervous that the bees did not jump on it right away. I am adjusting my time frame to at least six days for obvious cell construction before assuming queenright or not.
Going for some new queens and a couple nucs this weekend; six hundred mile round trip.
In my present scenario I have been feeding in frames with brood to colony that came out of winter queenless. It is 4 or five frames now I have donated, and each time I have not seen cells started by day three. It seems like near the 5 day mark. (I am destroying them after capping as there are no drones flying to mate them.)
Not only are they not starting to work on available day or two old larvae, they seem to wait till the last egg available hatches and then start cells on that larvae when it is a day or two old. That can make quite a time lapse.
I have yet to find a cell capped in the time frame that would indicate that bees will choose an older, less suitable larvae if they have choices.
Has anyone else been perplexed when testing for queenlessness and been nervous that the bees did not jump on it right away. I am adjusting my time frame to at least six days for obvious cell construction before assuming queenright or not.
Going for some new queens and a couple nucs this weekend; six hundred mile round trip.