is it normal for QC's to take 14 days to emerge?

[BabyBee]

one of my neighbours got his first nuc (of sorts) 2 weeks ago today. there were 2 capped QC's - both left in case of failure.

he checked his hive for the first time today - 14 days later and both QC's are still capped......my books tell me 9 days before the new Q emerges.

Bees were quite happy and didnt seem angry or agitated.

any ideas please?

 

[fatshark]

QC's are sealed for 7 days (from day 9 to 16) ... I suspect there might be a queen already emerged and running around in the nuc. If so, she may have slaughtered her sisters before they had a chance to appear.

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fatshark

 

[BabyBee]

QC's are sealed for 7 days (from day 9 to 16) ... I suspect there might be a queen already emerged and running around in the nuc. If so, she may have slaughtered her sisters before they had a chance to appear.



--
fatshark

no eggs or grubs though - would that still be the case?

 

[Poly Hive]

16 days to emergence from the laying of the egg.

If you gently poke the tip of the cell you will probably find it will swing down and you will either see a dead bee in it, not uncommon, or it will be empty.

As for mating it can take up to 28 days.

Time to exercise some patience.

Odd nuc though....

PH

 

[whizzwheels]

They may be empty, never had an egg in them. I had about eight sealed queen cells in one of my hives last week, I removed several of them and at least three of them were empty but still sealed. They had been there for less that a week so I sure they couldn't of hatched.

 

[BabyBee]

how strange! i shall pass that on to him - thanks. though i kind of like the suggestion that he already has a queen cos they were definately happy bees and surely they'd be mego grumpy if no queen?

 

[merylvingien]

I am fast learning that everything doesnt go by the book or the forum!

I have a queenless hive at the moment and they are probably the quietest bees i have, very calm and docile!

The opposite was the case of a now infamous colony i had, which no longer exists.

 

[winmag270]

how strange! i shall pass that on to him - thanks. though i kind of like the suggestion that he already has a queen cos they were definately happy bees and surely they'd be mego grumpy if no queen?

not necessarily BabyBee,

weekend before last one of my hived i believe swarmed shortly after an inspection during which i'd removed four sealed queen cells (yes i had checked that the Queen was present before i removed the cells)....

Last saturday's inspection showed no signs of the Queen nor any new QC's drawn from the eggs that had been present, also no newly laid eggs or young brood.

Once i had found this situation I added a test frame which along with fresh eggs and young brood had a well formed but not sealed Queen Cell on it.

I checked the test frame this evening and there is now a beautifully formed sealed queen cell sitting (hanging) there

The point of my ramble is that the bees in that hive have been the calmest and most docile i have ever known them to be during the couple of inspections where they have probably been queenless!!

Saying that, the little darlings will probably now read this and do a fair impression of wasps on me, purely out of spite.....

hey ho!

 

[Finman]

.
It is not rare if a being inside the queen cell is dead.

Sometimes I have lifted queen cells into the super and its emerging have lasted 3 extra days. Reason is that the place has been too cold.

This spring I gaced the queen cells too early. A part of them royal jelly had collapsed over the larva (I suppose) and they were rotten when it was time to emerge. Or they caught cold because I got only 2 laying queens from 10 cells. Day was cold when I put them into cage.

 

[Midland Beek]

If they have been sealed for 14 days they be dead.

 

[BabyBee]

so thought i'd give you all the update. we checked his hive yesterday and opened up these 2 QC's - both dead. one not much past the grub stage and the other one a fully formed bee that didnt come out.

he now seems to have a drone laying worker too. so we kind of understand a bit more about why it's important to get a nuc with an already mated Q. having said that, what a learning experience!