It's nice to raise new queens in situ, but time-consuming and very unpredictable. Mine managed to raise two queens this year, only one of which mated successfully. The good queen is great and I would have liked more, but this year hasn't been very suitable weather-wise. One other colony lost their queen, and replaced her but the virgin never returned from her mating flight, probably due to a sudden change to cool, very windy weather. I gave up waiting, and when a test frame suggested they were still queenless, I bought a locally-bred, mated queen rather than wait any longer.
She was in her cage for 5 days due to initial reluctance to accept her. Then she was accepted fine, but there was NO sign of eggs for the first week, just empty, polished cells. When I checked the second week there were eggs everywhere, all very new. So I reckon it took her 10 or so days to really get going. They seem quite happy now, and the brood pattern in that hive looks good for the first time all year.
