Banked queen's

[Curly green finger's]

Morning day three I have some virgins in cages in a closed of poly nuc.
They are three days since emerging how long can I leave them like this? I'm possible not going to use then untill Friday will this be to late? do I need to sort them today?
Thanks
Cgf

 

[Swarm]

Personally, I would get them in as soon as possible after they emerge. Not always easy I admit and I've run in a few at day two.
How long they can be banked, I don't know but even if it were a week I'd still prefer to get them in their own little colony long before that.

 

[drex]

I believe they take about 4 days to mature enough to mate and that they then have a window of about 4 weeks before they no longer can mate.
Therefore I think Friday will be fine

 

[B+.]

Morning day three I have some virgins in cages in a closed of poly nuc.
They are three days since emerging how long can I leave them like this? I'm possible not going to use then untill Friday will this be to late? do I need to sort them today?
Thanks
Cgf

I agree with @Swarm . Virgin queens are like growing sweetcorn. You walk slowly to collect them, then run back once you have them. I transfer virgins into nucs asap after they've emerged and they've been marked i.e. a couple of hours. The chances of getting them accepted diminishes sharply the longer they're kept out of contact with the bees. I understand 2 days is the maximum, but I would never keep them anywhere near that long.
@drex it takes 6 days for a virgin to become sexually mature (although, there are cases where she's mated earlier but this tends to be in emergency situations and the queens are soon superseded once the colony dynamics return to normal). Bees will sometimes do things that are contrary to "accepted theory" but it's best to consider "normal" behaviour. When performing instrumental insemination, the usual delay is 6-10 days after emergence.
Sue Cobey did a review of studies into the longevity of queens subject to different treatment. It makes interesting viewing.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I agree with @Swarm . Virgin queens are like growing sweetcorn. You walk slowly to collect them, then run back once you have them. I transfer virgins into nucs asap after they've emerged and they've been marked i.e. a couple of hours. The chances of getting them accepted diminishes sharply the longer they're kept out of contact with the bees. I understand 2 days is the maximum, but I would never keep them anywhere near that long.
@drex it takes 6 days for a virgin to become sexually mature (although, there are cases where she's mated earlier but this tends to be in emergency situations and the queens are soon superseded once the colony dynamics return to normal). Bees will sometimes do things that are contrary to "accepted theory" but it's best to consider "normal" behaviour. When performing instrumental insemination, the usual delay is 6-10 days after emergence.
Sue Cobey did a review of studies into the longevity of queens subject to different treatment. It makes interesting viewing.

I've sorted them out this afternoon well not long ago, I pinched an hour to release two mated queen's aswell.
Thanks for the advice and link all.
One thing? me and Alfie had a treat just releasing a mated queen from a cage she was talking to them like a rumbling sort of sound she walked out on to a frame and was being cleaned.
I left two of my best mated queen's for three days in a cages in between super and brood box..
I wanted to make sure and by not using an intro cage with fondant they could feed her or her 8 attendants which I put in with them.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Introduced virgins are a lot more likely to disappear than ones that emerged in the colony.

 

[Swarm]

They can and do but given the right circumstance they can be quite successful.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I can't comment yet really but with virgins you can be more selective have them emerge in the incubator and then charge a mini nuc up.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I agree with @Swarm . Virgin queens are like growing sweetcorn. You walk slowly to collect them, then run back once you have them. I transfer virgins into nucs asap after they've emerged and they've been marked i.e. a couple of hours. The chances of getting them accepted diminishes sharply the longer they're kept out of contact with the bees. I understand 2 days is the maximum, but I would never keep them anywhere near that long.
@drex it takes 6 days for a virgin to become sexually mature (although, there are cases where she's mated earlier but this tends to be in emergency situations and the queens are soon superseded once the colony dynamics return to normal). Bees will sometimes do things that are contrary to "accepted theory" but it's best to consider "normal" behaviour. When performing instrumental insemination, the usual delay is 6-10 days after emergence.
Sue Cobey did a review of studies into the longevity of queens subject to different treatment. It makes interesting viewing.

Shame he’s not on here any more I’ve learned a lot from Paul, his black night buddleia live on in pots and in the garden on the hill! 4 year old now