How long can it take for a queen to start laying?

[taurus]

Bit of a weird thing...

In late April I bought a new colony from an experienced member of our association which has done a few odd things.

The colony seemed slow to build up and sure enough in June I found a supercedure cell on a frame. The original queen was still there and laying so I put the supercedure cell into a nuc. (I'll call this supercedure 1 as it's the one this question is about).

A couple of weeks later they did it again - I put that frame in another nuc (which has since filled out nicely and has now pretty much filled a national brood box).

After that the original queen seems to have got things figured out because she has been laying like a trooper and has nicely filled the brood box.

So going back to that first supercedure cell - by the middle of July the cell had opened so I was hoping to see eggs by the beginning of August. I've checked weekly - no sign of anything. I had given it up for lost and was going to combine the remaining bees with another hive - but today I went in there and found eggs and young larvae. There are a few sealed cells so it looks like a queen started laying about a week ago.

Could this been the original queen from that supercedure cell back which hatched in mid-July? If so it's taken her about 5-6 weeks to start laying.

The alternative is that a late (and small) swarm has moved in there. But there have been bees in the box all the way through so it has never been vacant.

Edit - I just remembered to say - I noticed that the bees in the queenless supercedure nuc didn't start laying so I had a hunch something was stopping them laying, but as said - until now no sign of eggs in there.

 

[Teemore]

It can take quite a while for some queens to come into lay but a long delay may not be ideal and can in some instances be an indication of a possible queen problem. If can also be down to the weather....

Are you seeing sealed worker brood in Supercedure 1 or is it drone brood? Have you had much (if any) of a brood break in your other colonies? Lack of nectar and pollen can have an influence on queen laying. If you are seeing sealed worker brood then I would run with it and hope that the queen is OK.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Could a prolonged interval between emergence and laying (assuming good weather and subsequent production of worker brood) be a method of coping with varroa?

 

[taurus]

The funny thing is that the vorroa count on the rest of my hives is very low. I treated the with Apilife var last summer and then oxalic vapour in January, but the count hasn't risen over the summer.

I'm guessing she's just taken a very long time to come into lay. I've bunged some fondant on as I don't want them to fill the comb with syrup. Fingers crossed I can get them through the winter in the nuc.