How long till she mates?!

[kittietrixie]

Hi everybody. Taking advantage of the sun today, I inspected my hives and was delighted to find a queen in a colony which I thought was queenless. I put in queen cells a few weeks ago, so it worked! Anyway, queen present but no eggs. Is it that she hasn't yet gone for her mating flight or is it something more sinister? Any views gratefully received.

 

[Poly Hive]

Sorry but a time line is needed.

I found eggs today in nucs made up some 5 weeks ago.

PH

 

[kittietrixie]

True. I put in the queen cells x 3 two weeks ago. Does that narrow it down?

 

[For want of a better word]

I found three supercedure cells in a mating nuc... that DID have a queen in it !
Worth incubating????
Weather?

 

[Poly Hive]

Put in queen cells two weeks ago. Were they capped, have you any idea as to emergence date?

PH

 

[sjt]

I almost gave up on my queen.
I did an artificial swarm with a sealed queen cell on 12th April, I saw pollen going in on May 9th.
The hive had to be moved to an out apiary on 27th May but still no sign of larvae so thought the queen hadn't mated and then this week on 13th June to my great surprise 5 frames of sealed brood and lots of larvae!

 

[kittietrixie]

Thanks for all your views. I'm waiting to see if eggs are there for the next inspection. Fingers crossed.

 

[oliver90owner]

As add-on from PH's last post.

Even if almost emerging she is only 2 weeks in the hive max., so will likely be less or much less since emergence. Please read up a little about the queen and mating. It doesn't happen in a flash...

Draw a time line and see for yourself. It may be very enlightening.