new laying queen question.

[biglongdarren]

i have a nuc that a queen hatched out in and now there is eggs,she hatched around 4weeks ago but some of the cells have up to one dozen eggs in them,all are in the bottom of the cells and some of the eggs are all different sizes,i have seen a new queen laying maybe a few in a cell but never this many.
is this in anyway normal?
Darren

 

[Poly Hive]

The short answer is no but give her some time to settle down.

PH

 

[Heather]

New lady - practice will make perfect....

 

[Finman]

.

new queens do not do that. Question is not about settle down.

 

[meidel]

Expect to see an uneven capped brood pattern as the bees attempt to even things out - if all capped brood are worker you have nothing to worry about. If they are bumpy, however, you probably have a drone layer.

 

[Winker]

Expect to see an uneven capped brood pattern as the bees attempt to even things out - .

You may even find that the bees move some of those extra eggs around themself, making the brood pattern not what you might expect to begin with

 

[susbees]

Bee eggs do not change size...confused....

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mbc]

Bee eggs do not change size...confused....

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

For a time bee eggs grow exponentially in the rear end of the queen

 

[Finman]

For a time bee eggs grow exponentially in the rear end of the queen

one egg to exponent two = 1

2 eggs to exponent 2= 4

ahaa, that is why there are multi eggs.

 

[MattC]

How long to give a virgin to mate and start laying before giving up, and merging splits from an AS'd colony back with the original queen?

It's over 3 weeks since the new queen would have emerged and I haven't spotted her, and no sign they're getting ready for her to lay (in fact the brood space is filling up with honey). Though some humming noises, lower pitched than recordings I've heard of piping queen so not very convinced. She would have emerged right into the bad weather... Based on this thread and others, I'd be inclined to give her at least one more week but any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry if I'm butting in, hope it's not an unrelated question...

 

[Norton]

You probably have some laying workers as well in the hive - just give the queen a couple of weeks to get going well and firing on all cylinders. The laying workers are competing with the queen and producing some pheromones of their own. If you can add a frame, from another hive, of emerging bees that you have shaken well to remove the bees from.

 

[BeeNice]

Laying workers don't lay at the bottom of the cells.

 

[Norton]

Really? Some of the ones I have had did.

 

[Erichalfbee]

How long to give a virgin to mate and start laying before giving up, and merging splits from an AS'd colony back with the original queen?

It's over 3 weeks since the new queen would have emerged and I haven't spotted her, and no sign they're getting ready for her to lay (in fact the brood space is filling up with honey). Though some humming noises, lower pitched than recordings I've heard of piping queen so not very convinced. She would have emerged right into the bad weather... Based on this thread and others, I'd be inclined to give her at least one more week but any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry if I'm butting in, hope it's not an unrelated question...

One of mine took six weeks last year and the first half frame was drone. Lovely strong colony now.

 

[BeeNice]

The reason is that laying workers have not got the body length to get to the bottom of the cells, thats why the eggs are seen on the side of cells not the bottom.

 

[Norton]

OK then I'll get photos the next time I come across it. It is sometimes hard to decide if it is the new queen laying or laying workers.

 

[Skyhook]

The reason is that laying workers have not got the body length to get to the bottom of the cells, thats why the eggs are seen on the side of cells not the bottom.

That is usually the case, but as someone has said, bees do nothing invariably. I would want to be very certain of my facts before disagreeing with Norton about queens- he's seen quite a few!

 

[oliver90owner]

I would want to be very certain of my facts before disagreeing with Norton about queens- he's seen quite a few!

Egg position is not the only thing you would be looking for. Brood pattern is another, along with the recent history of the colony, the particular strain of bee, etc etc.

I try not to base any decision on one single observation only.

 

[Hivemaker.]

You probably have some laying workers as well in the hive - just give the queen a couple of weeks to get going well and firing on all cylinders. The laying workers are competing with the queen and producing some pheromones of their own. If you can add a frame, from another hive, of emerging bees that you have shaken well to remove the bees from.

Really? Some of the ones I have had did.

It is sometimes hard to decide if it is the new queen laying or laying workers.

with the above,have also seen this many times.

 

[Poly Hive]

There you are, give her time.

Odd how I keep mentioning patience.

PH