On April 21st I created my first 2 walk away splits in a 5 frame nuc. I returned a few days later to check for capped queen cells and found several. I know its early in the walk away split but I checked on one of them today as the weather for the past week and a half has been miserable. The first day the queens could of emerged it was 70 degrees with 40-50 mile per hour winds and everyday after that it has been cooler with high winds or large quantities of rain. So not sure sure how sucessful I was in creating a queen. When I checked on them today they were very loud, much louder than any of my other hives. Would it be a good idea to add a frame or two of eggs just in case they don't have a queen or should I wait a couple more days and see if I'm just jumping the gun.
Walk away split question
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If you have a frame of brood and eggs, it can't hurt to give it to them. If they are without a queen they will start another. If there is a queen, it will not hurt to add a few hundred more bees to that hive as there will be a broodless time while she gets to the point that her brood is emerging.
In my opinion give it more time. I did three walk away splits this year and just from memory,not looking at my notes, it took quite awhile for the queens to get going. The longest was 31 days. I might be off by a day or two. Saw the girl,thought see wasnt well mated and just wasnt laying,but she is doing fine now. I had weird weather also. I also was concerned about being broodless for so long and adding bees,but resisting temptation just left them alone. Its fine now. Brood eggs plenty off bees. Just my opinion. Peace Dave
I did 4 just as Steven did, the only difference is I couldn't stay out of them...LOL. I was VERY careful so as not to damage any cells. I now have 9 hives from 1 starting in March. All but 2 have made their own queens and have done it very very sucessfully. I hope its not sheer luck..LOL
yeah Ian it was 31 days,maybe one of two more,would have to look at notes,until I saw eggs from the splits. Actually I took the old queen out of an established hive and put it in a new hive. Day 27 to my eyes nothing. No eggs at all,but thinking I probably missed them. They had to be just a few hours old. Peace Dave
Here is a link to the thread http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238340
Here is a link to the thread http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238340
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm
It will take 24 or 25 days for the new queen (raised from a four day old) to be laying if everything is on schedule. But if they started from a egg, you could add four days to that, and if the weather is bad, you could add another week or so to the mating. So max is 16+21 which is 37 days...
It will take 24 or 25 days for the new queen (raised from a four day old) to be laying if everything is on schedule. But if they started from a egg, you could add four days to that, and if the weather is bad, you could add another week or so to the mating. So max is 16+21 which is 37 days...
Thanks for all the good information. The weather here has finally turned so thats the good news. Additionally, there were plenty of queen cells that looked like they had been ripped open. I'll just wait and see what happens and give them another week or so.
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