How long?

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Black Comb

Queen Bee
Joined
Aug 10, 2009
Messages
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Location
Cumbria
Hive Type
Other
Number of Hives
10+
Shall I wait before putting in a test frame?

I made an A/s on 18th May and the new box with all the brood frames in swarmed at 10.00am on Wed. (I left only one cell - or so I thought)

I've looked in today but can see no queen cells and no eggs.

So, assuming there is a virgin queen in there (would they not have swarmed without?) how long before I should expect her to lay?
 
A month from emergence.

When you look for eggs, look for a queen as well. If you see one, look for anything obvious that may prevent her from mating, like broken wings.

Yes, I am sure you only left one cell, but they have added to that one cell after you made the split. The 'good' queen in the one cell leaves with a swarm, and then you are left with a weedy good-for-nothing queen from an emergency queen cell.

In the future, yes, leave one cell, but go back a few days later and destroy any queen cells built in addition to the one cell.
 
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