Newbie queen question

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Blue Spinnaker

House Bee
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
241
Reaction score
0
Location
Staffordshire
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
1 + 1 nuc
Hi,

Could someone shed some light on what is going on, and my best course of action, if any? I can't get my head round the dates and times, and it may be just me panicking.

My colony was created from another using a queen cell and frames of stores and brood. On 12th June the cell was capped, by 26th it was open, so I assumed she was out there. The bees are very calm, however on Tues there were no eggs, and not having seen the queen I put a test frame in. Today there seems to be a play cup (not on the test frame) but no sign of them building a queen cell on the test frame.

Could I still have a virgin queen in there, and if not, how soon would I expect to see a queen cell after putting in the test frame?

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
She is there just not laying yet within hours they would have started building the cells out and deffo after 24 hours

Relax and have a drink in this pleasant summer we are having.
Grub
 
If you look up the development times for queens you will see that the cell is capped for 8 days.

You mention the 12th of June and it is capped then so at worst case she was hatching on June 20th. Might have been before but almost definitely by the 20th.

Given it is quite normal for virgins to take three to four weeks to mate and come into lay she is well with in the parameters.

Relax.

PH
 
Queen cells formed on a test frame inserted into a queenless colony are obvious to spot. There's a queen in there alright. The test frame has done its job.
 
Hi,

Could someone shed some light on what is going on, and my best course of action, if any? I can't get my head round the dates and times, and it may be just me panicking.

My colony was created from another using a queen cell and frames of stores and brood. On 12th June the cell was capped, by 26th it was open, so I assumed she was out there. The bees are very calm, however on Tues there were no eggs, and not having seen the queen I put a test frame in. Today there seems to be a play cup (not on the test frame) but no sign of them building a queen cell on the test frame.

Could I still have a virgin queen in there, and if not, how soon would I expect to see a queen cell after putting in the test frame?

Thanks for your thoughts.

you're thinking too much, relax
 

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