Queen mating

[lievanation]

Please can anyone tell me how long does it take after a new queen has mated before she starts laying eggs. I can not seem to find the answer in my books. Many thanks

 

[itma]

"It varies."
A few days wouldn't be unusual.
Note that for the first few days of laying, she may be a bit haphazard, laying plural eggs in each cell. She should get the hang of it in less than a week.

 

[REDWOOD]

She Needs to set up her sperm bank, from emergence to laying should bee 14 days although can take longer depending on weather. One of mine took 3 weeks before she started laying

 

[itma]

... from emergence to laying should bee 14 days although can take longer depending on weather.

The time to mate is of course another (and larger) variable, but beyond what the OP asks.

 

[REDWOOD]

The time to mate is of course another (and larger) variable, but beyond what the OP asks.

How would you know the exact time the queen got mated unless you see the telltale signs, It is much easier to work out when the queen emerged and count 14 days after that. If however you buy in a mated queen you should see eggs like you said in a few days

 

[testka]

I saw a virgin queen return to my hive Sunday 26th clearly mated with tell tell sign, checked hive today and there is around 1 side of eggs. That would make it 5 days from mating, however the weather has been decent here.

 

[Beanwood]

unless you see the telltale signs

Please tell, what are the tell tale signs?? (I assume it's not a broad smile...)

 

[VEG]

The drones bits get ripped off and left in/on the queen

 

[oliver90owner]

Time from emergence is fairly irrelevant. It could be six weeks before she gets mated and starts to lay. A few days is the normal expectation 3, 4, or 5 after mating - does it really matter?

I might wonder why it is important to you? The usual recommendation is to leave the colony alone for three weeks, after expected emergence date, before checking for brood. No point in interfering earlier as that is more likely to cause disruption, and you need to check brood pattern and that it is not drone brood, so some cells need to be capped. That, of course, means in decent mating weather conditions.

 

[biglongdarren]

there was a video going about last year of a queen getting mated and half way through her wig fell off!
she had drone layer wrote all over her!

Darren

 

[Hawklord]

From being an egg to a laying queen mine took 6 weeks last year. It depends on the weather I think.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Please can anyone tell me how long does it take after a new queen has mated before she starts laying eggs. I can not seem to find the answer in my books. Many thanks

There's a "Queen Rearing Calendar" on this site. It might help. (Or might not!) http://www.thebeeyard.org/queen-rearing-calendar/

 

[REDWOOD]

some more good stuff here
http://www.wbka.com/images/education/a006howtodealwithacolonythatisre-queeningitself.pdf