Queens late to emerge

[bpmurray]

I grafted on 24th Jull and had 7 sealed QCs on 28th as expected. I put 2 of these into Apideas and left the other 5 in haircurler cages. 8 days later I expected them to emerge, but only 2 in the cages emerged on day 16, with the 2 in the Apideas emerging on day 17. I checked the other 3 this morning, day 18, and they were still sealed. I decided to look at one of them and, to my surprise, it was an almost mature queen, not quite dark yet, so I left the last 2 alone.

I've always understood that the queen emerges on day 16, 8 days after sealing. Is it possible to be 3 or 4 days late? Or are these some kind of mutent useless queens?

 

[Eyeman]

It's likely the QC's were not kept at 34'C. As you transferred them 4 days fafter grafting the cooler temp delays development. I transfer the QC's 10 days after grafting and they emerge on day 15 or 16.

 

[Ian123]

Bees sometimes re cap emerged cells.

 

[For want of a better word]

I grafted on 24th Jull and had 7 sealed QCs on 28th as expected. I put 2 of these into Apideas and left the other 5 in haircurler cages. 8 days later I expected them to emerge, but only 2 in the cages emerged on day 16, with the 2 in the Apideas emerging on day 17. I checked the other 3 this morning, day 18, and they were still sealed. I decided to look at one of them and, to my surprise, it was an almost mature queen, not quite dark yet, so I left the last 2 alone.

I've always understood that the queen emerges on day 16, 8 days after sealing. Is it possible to be 3 or 4 days late? Or are these some kind of mutent useless queens?

Probably "the books" are wrong!

B+ will confirm that some of the "experts" in beekeeping and queen rearing, even ones involved in the BBKA modules,,,, have never raised a queen bee in all their many years as beekeepers.

Bet that rant gets the blue pencil!!!!

Chons da

 

[Beefriendly]

The time of insect larval development is temperature dependant. Lower temps mean it takes longer. Nothing mystical about it.

 

[tonyofarr]

If the queen cells get too cold you can get wingless virgins emerging because their development is affected. Whilst still a novice I made up a nuc and put in a q cell and the vq emerged days after expected without wings. The nuc had not had enough bees to keep the q cell warm and was told by an experienced beek that wing development does not happen if the q cell gets cool.

SWMBO does all our q rearing and she reckons that virgin queens can emerge a day earlier than expected if the weather is really hot, and she is meticulous with her timing of grafts.

 

[madasafish]

I run my incubator at 35C and get emergence a day earlier...

 

[tonyofarr]

I run my incubator at 35C and get emergence a day earlier...

What incubator do you use? SWMBO is still using the bees to incubate. We are desperate to find ways to save time and make everything run more efficiently especially as we are going to Greece next August because our oldest daughter is getting married there.

 

[Millet]

What incubator do you use? SWMBO is still using the bees to incubate. We are desperate to find ways to save time and make everything run more efficiently especially as we are going to Greece next August because our oldest daughter is getting married there.

Try these..best on the market ..i would not buy one for the little bees though..Peregrines a different story..

http://www.grumbach-brutgeraete.de/english/

 

[For want of a better word]

What incubator do you use? SWMBO is still using the bees to incubate. We are desperate to find ways to save time and make everything run more efficiently especially as we are going to Greece next August because our oldest daughter is getting married there.

My home spun incubators work fine, but are either too small or too big!

Just bought one of these Lucky Reptile incubators used( barely) for less than a third of the RRP ( £99 from Check Republik.... £160 UK ) ''',,,,,,........
eBay item number:
253655425359

Testing out against my NPL mercury calibration thermometer at the moment, seems to need to be placed in a room which has very little temperature fluctuation as my AI room has!

Temperature was =/- 1 degree in kitchen....

 

[Finman]

I grafted on 24th Jull and had 7 sealed QCs on 28th as expected. I

I've always understood that the queen emerges on day 16,

In my hives grafted queens start to emerge after day 12.

16 days have 3 egg days.
.
Smallest larvae, what I can graft, are 1 day old.

I keep my pupae in hives.

3 + 1 + 12 = 16


.

 

[Finman]

Bees sometimes re cap emerged cells.

Never seen that

.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bees sometimes re cap emerged cells.

Nevele seen that

.

seen it a few times.
a perfect example this year at the training apiary when we decided to Post Mortem an obviously dud QC in a colony with a good new laying queen - when opened the cell contained a dead worker, head in, who had obviously sneaked in to either snack on the leftover royal jelly or have a cheeky nap and the other bees had resealed the cell

 

[Finman]

The time of insect larval development is temperature dependant. Lower temps mean it takes longer. Nothing mystical about it.

That is the answer .

The temp in a emerging box varies if the box does not have air mixer

.

 

[Finman]

It's likely the QC's were not kept at 34'C. As you transferred them 4 days fafter grafting the cooler temp delays development. I transfer the QC's 10 days after grafting and they emerge on day 15 or 16.

15 and 16 are quite too much compared to the time in the hive

 

[tonyofarr]

Cheers, let us know how you get on with your incubator. Years ago we had a Brinsea Hatcher that we used to hatch call duck eggs and it was extremely vulnerable to the smallest temp change e.g opening a door somewhere in the rest of the house or the heating coming on/switching off somewhere.

Millet, Thanks for the link. SWMBO is already stressed about us going away for 2 weeks in August next year, it is going to take a lot of planning and hard work to do that.