Apidea

[rampino]

Hi, I’m looking for a bit of advice. I bought an APIDEA to try out and followed the instructions, putting in worker bees and a fairly ripe queen cell. A couple of weeks have gone by and the bees are still coming and going and they have made a bit of comb and there is a small amount of stores, but no eggs and no queen that I could see. Should I try another Q cell? The previous one has totally disappeared without trace.

 

[B+.]

Hi, I’m looking for a bit of advice. I bought an APIDEA to try out and followed the instructions, putting in worker bees and a fairly ripe queen cell. A couple of weeks have gone by and the bees are still coming and going and they have made a bit of comb and there is a small amount of stores, but no eggs and no queen that I could see. Should I try another Q cell? The previous one has totally disappeared without trace.

Yes. You have plenty of time to try again this year.
Shake the bees out (as they will be too old) and restock it with young nurse bees (shake open brood frames into a bucket - the ones you want are those that stay in the bucket after a few minutes - older foragers will return to the hive)
Insert a "ripe" queen cell (that is one that is due to emerge within the next day.
Close the entrance and place the nuc somewhere cool and dark (or they may abscond).
After 3 days you can take them to a mating site (preferably in the evening or rain so they don't all rush out).
Then, open them up (most will walk around for a while then go back inside) and leave them alone for at least a week (queens are sexually mature 6 days after emergence so it can be a while before you see eggs).

 

[enrico]

Could do with a sticky on that.....brilliant instructions
E

 

[masterBK]

I would wait another week before trying again.

 

[B+.]

I would wait another week before trying again.

Yes. The day-time temperatures are ok but the night-time temperature looks like it will fall over the next week.
As masterBK says, put it off for a week.

 

[SDM]

Typically my first virgins went into mating nucs 2 days ago with 3 more batches due to emerge this week.
My timing is spectacular!!

 

[madasafish]

Typically my first virgins went into mating nucs 2 days ago with 3 more batches due to emerge this week.
My timing is spectacular!!

Have not started yet.. Weather has been so variable and very wet winter .. Another 2 weeks (last year I started 19th May)

 

[B+.]

Typically my first virgins went into mating nucs 2 days ago with 3 more batches due to emerge this week.
My timing is spectacular!!

I have my first batch in the incubator now.
Thursday looks like the coldest night according to the forecast (1C).
Last year, I left it until mid-month to start as the weather was so unpredictable. This year, it looks like it's continuing that pattern. Next week should improve though.

 

[SDM]

I have my first batch in the incubator now.
Thursday looks like the coldest night according to the forecast (1C).
Last year, I left it until mid-month to start as the weather was so unpredictable. This year, it looks like it's continuing that pattern. Next week should improve though.

The lowest forecast here is 5°C Thursday night thanks to the Irish sea hot water bottle. Potential for mating flights early next week so maybe my timing wasn't so bad after all.
All the long range summer forecasts I've seen are a bit grim. Cool , wet and unsettled. A British summer then eh ?

 

[Olivia9801]

Have just set up three Apideas with QC’s on Sunday and looking forward to the results.

If anyone has any they no longer use and would sell please get in touch.

Olivia9801

 

[SDM]

It turned out weather forecasting was rubbish and a decent spell of weather gave 65 out of 84 queens mated.
Round two emerged a few days ago and looks set for decent mating weather sun/mon/Tue.
If they pull it off in similar numbers it'll be the best start to queen rearing I've seen.

 

[Antipodes]

Yes. You have plenty of time to try again this year.
Shake the bees out (as they will be too old) and restock it with young nurse bees (shake open brood frames into a bucket - the ones you want are those that stay in the bucket after a few minutes - older foragers will return to the hive)
Insert a "ripe" queen cell (that is one that is due to emerge within the next day.
Close the entrance and place the nuc somewhere cool and dark (or they may abscond).
After 3 days you can take them to a mating site (preferably in the evening or rain so they don't all rush out).
Then, open them up (most will walk around for a while then go back inside) and leave them alone for at least a week (queens are sexually mature 6 days after emergence so it can be a while before you see eggs).

I see the apidea "instructions" say the queen will mate four days after emergence. I thought it would be around six (or between five and seven), but was told by someone here that "they go out a bit early" from a mini poly mating nuc.

B+ (or anyone else), can you anyone please share any further experience or info. about mating timeline with a queen that has emerged in a mini poly mating nuc?

 

[B+.]

I see the apidea "instructions" say the queen will mate four days after emergence. I thought it would be around 6 (or between 5 and 7), but was told by someone here that "they go out a bit early" from a mini poly mating nuc.

B+ (or anyone else), can you anyone please share any further experience or info. about mating timeline with a queen that has emerged in a mini poly mating nuc?

You are correct.
A virgin queen becomes sexually mature after 5-6 days (it varies a little but 4 days would be pushing it). Weather can play a role in when they actually begin taking orientation flights and go on proper mating flights. I would aim to inseminate virgin queens around 5-10 days old.
I tend to use full-frame nucs as mating hives now (because I like to give them enough space to lay a proper sealed worker brood pattern) but I wouldn't have thought there'd be much difference between the point they were ready to mate in a mini-nuc and a full-frame nuc. The workers may "encourage" the queen to leave earlier in a smaller nuc, but, that's not saying she will mate earlier.