Mated Queen Piping

[snelgrove]

I removed a queen from a mini nuc, there was eggs, I normally wait until there is sealed brood. However, I needed a mated queen quickly. Whilst in the cage with workers she started piping.
My first thought she was still a virgin, but she was laying. Any thoughts?

 

[beeno]

Hi Snelgrove,
Not my thoughts, but Rusty's. "Mated queens, too, sometimes pipe when they are released into a colony. This also may signal that she is ready to head the colony and all would be wise to agree."

 

[Goodwood]

Put a mated queen into a nuc a month ago. They rejected her when i went in to mark her after a week...she had actually started to lay which is why I decided to mark her. She managed to fly off before they killed her. I watched the nuc for half an hour during which she came back three times and sat on the roof piping away. I tried to catch her each time but failed and she flew away the last time to new pastures. I will now only mark a new queen after a several frames have been laid and a few weeks have past. Lesson learnt.

 

[B+.]

My first thought she was still a virgin, but she was laying. Any thoughts?

The usual guidance is to leave the queen for at least 9 days. I have always taken this to mean that there should be eggs/larvae and maybe even sealed brood, or maybe that the queen was in full lay, but in any case, they are very flighty in the beginning. This is another reason why I like to mark queens as soon as they emerge in the incubator.

 

[snelgrove]

The usual guidance is to leave the queen for at least 9 days. I have always taken this to mean that there should be eggs/larvae and maybe even sealed brood, or maybe that the queen was in full lay, but in any case, they are very flighty in the beginning. This is another reason why I like to mark queens as soon as they emerge in the incubator.

I normally wait for sealed brood, to show the queen is suitable, this was a first