How long for virgin to get mated?

[Do224]

Assuming my swarm is a cast (I’ve no idea if it is or not yet), how long would you expect it to take for the queen to get mated and start laying?

Perhaps this is a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ type question but there must be a rule of thumb...

 

[Antipodes]

Assuming my swarm is a cast (I’ve no idea if it is or not yet), how long would you expect it to take for the queen to get mated and start laying?

Perhaps this is a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ type question but there must be a rule of thumb...

9 days after emerging is average.

 

[Boston Bees]

https://www.honeybeesuite.com/when-will-newly-hatched-queen-begin-lay/

 

[user 819]

There's no fast set rule but I would say a nuc within 14 - 21 days.

One of my big colonies had a VQ emerge on about 28 May, today she was plump and saw three frames of E/U (eggs/unsealed very young larvae). Tbh wasn't expecting anything for another week or so but the weather has been blinding of late so the timing is perfect now rain has arrived.
Two more VQ's due Saturday so hope the weather picks up again end of next week and my 4 y/o Q whois the mother /Grand mother of most of my Q's is being supersceded in a small nuc, so another Q due soon.

 

[Swarm]

Ran virgins into mating nucs on June 1st, eggs and larvae two weeks later.

 

[user 20297]

Assuming my swarm is a cast (I’ve no idea if it is or not yet), how long would you expect it to take for the queen to get mated and start laying?

Perhaps this is a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ type question but there must be a rule of thumb...

My hive, which swarmed on the 2nd June, as result of a split which produced several virgin queens, had eggs and young larvae yesterday, the 15th. This would have been 17 days maximum since the emergence of the queen.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

A Cast queen still (potentially) needs a couple of days before she is mature enough to mate. Then you have a month or so before she is stale, however she need decent weather for her nuptials, so after a couple of days of mating weather she should be done and should start to lay a few days after that. I have had to discard queens that don't get to mate or I have had queens mated and laying 8 days after emergence - that's the quickest I have noted.

 

[Do224]

A Cast queen still (potentially) needs a couple of days before she is mature enough to mate. Then you have a month or so before she is stale, however she need decent weather for her nuptials, so after a couple of days of mating weather she should be done and should start to lay a few days after that. I have had to discard queens that don't get to mate or I have had queens mated and laying 8 days after emergence - that's the quickest I have noted.

How good does the weather have to be for mating? Just not pouring down....or warm bright sunshine and no wind?

 

[madasafish]

How good does the weather have to be for mating? Just not pouring down....or warm bright sunshine and no wind?

I had a Q mated early May 2021 : Maximum daytime temperature 15C.

 

[user 819]

As long as the weather is flyable they should mate this time of year.