[poppy1]

I recently had a queen hatch on the 23rd of April on a hive I split off that had a great queen, it is now May 4 and I inspected that hive today to find 1 capped queen cell (small) and then what did i see but her royal highness. The issue is I see no eggs anywhere, the bees are bringing in pollen and nectar but no eggs.

So could it be she is a virgin that hasn't got bred yet or do I need to give her more time to see, we have plenty of drones in the beeyard here but we also had a 4 day snap of cool damp weather last week.

Anyone's advice or opinions is gratefully appreciated

 

[jim lyon]

If your small queen cell is "legitimate" I think your new queen would have destroyed it. Most likely your queen is just on the verge of laying. Check again in a few days and I'm betting you will have lots of new eggs and larvae.

 

[Tim B]

Sometimes queens do not make it back from mating flights. If the hive is hopelessly queenless the bees will give off a "hum" (nearly all will raise their tails and start fanning) at hive inspection that is different than the usual. I wouldn't count on the little queen cell amounting to anything. If I couldn't locate a queen then I would give them a frame of eggs.

 

[poppy1]

Sometimes queens do not make it back from mating flights. If the hive is hopelessly queenless the bees will give off a "hum" (nearly all will raise their tails and start fanning) at hive inspection that is different than the usual. I wouldn't count on the little queen cell amounting to anything. If I couldn't locate a queen then I would give them a frame of eggs.

Thank you Tim but I did find my queen upon that inspection but I had 1 small capped queen cell. Just wondering since she hatched on the 23rd of April if she is still a virgin or just not started laying yet and how long may it take before she takes off to laying??

Thanks again for any information

 

[JRG13]

I'd give it another week. They should start laying around the 2 week mark for the most part, I've seen it at 8 days in summer, but typically spring is 2 weeks.

 

[Slow Drone]

Could be.Mating is very dependent on weather conditions.Just as others have replied queen cell is probably not legitimate.

 

[burns375]

give her a few more days. I had a batch of 18 queens hatch 22-26th. We had a cold front come thru Monday with alot of rain followed by cold weather that set them back a few days. I know only 3 that have mated evident my male parts still attached, the others may have flown but don't look mated. I expect to see eggs in all mating nucs next weekend.

A virgin will quickly destroy a capped cell within a couple days.

 

[challenger]

What the bees are bringing in gives no indication of the status of a queen. Bees bring in nectar and or pollen if it's available. It's their job. That's why they make the big bucks. If they only brought back resources when their was a laying queen then what would they do when there is no laying queen? Sit around and watch the television?

 

[marshmasterpat]

If they only brought back resources when their was a laying queen then what would they do when there is no laying queen? Sit around and watch the television?

We would then call them humans or couch potatos. inch: :lookout:

 

[sqkcrk]

I'll bet that even though it may appear uncapped that the cell you have seen is the cell the queen came from and the cap simply wasn't completely cut away and removed. That cell is empty.

Give that colony a frame of capped brood and bees and a frame of brood containing eggs and young larvae. If the bees don't start making queen cells then everything is alright and procedeing as it should.

 

[Levi's Bees]

is there a different appearance of an mated vrs unmatted queen. does any one have pictures of this to show ??

 

[challenger]

The just mated queen will be smoking a cigarette.
Oh, and the mated Queens, in my experience, are about 15% larger after mating and laying than as virgins.

 

[Michael Bush]

If the queen emerged on the 23rd I would expect to see eggs most likely on the 7th of May and for sure by the 14th of May. The 7th is today...

 

[poppy1]

If the queen emerged on the 23rd I would expect to see eggs most likely on the 7th of May and for sure by the 14th of May. The 7th is today...

As always thanks Michael

 

[rhaldridge]

So do you have eggs now?

 

[tommysnare]

if u have the resouces,i see no problem with adding a frame of eggs. the worse that would happen is they would make a new, better queen cell than u have now. if they know the hatched queen is ok , then you'll just have more bees.

 

[sqkcrk]

So could it be she is a virgin that hasn't got bred yet ...

Show me a virgin that has been bred and I will show you a mated queen. A virgin that hasn't gotten mated is a virgin, period. No need for the "hasn't got bred yet". Know what I mean?

Did you look at that capped queen cell again to see if it is where your queen came from?

 

[poppy1]

So do you have eggs now?

Yesssssssssssssss I checked today and she is laying like a champ.

Thanks to everyone for their input

 

[sqkcrk]

?????????????????

 

[djei5]

The just mated queen will be smoking a cigarette.
Oh, and the mated Queens, in my experience, are about 15% larger after mating and laying than as virgins.

LOL! Good one, actually had one look at me and say "Oh dahling, it's only you.." *...slow exhale...