Running out of time?

[user 22881]

Hi folks.
I have a time line question.
So I have a new hive with fresh frames and foundation that a wild swarm entered on May 26th.
I made a quick first inspection 9 days later on June 4th marked the queen and all seemed well they were pulling out comb but it is a really small colon only covering about 2 frame.
The second inspection was 6 days later on June 10th where I noticed capped brewed. So that means hatching should start around June 22nd.
So my question is if it’s going to take 21 days for the new brood to mature to become foragers will the old bees and thus the colony die off before that can happen.
vid attached of todays inspection.

 

[Anduril]

The swarm consists mainly of young bees, so that comb can be produced for the queen to lay eggs and the production of royal jelly. There is no need to worry.

 

[user 22881]

The swarm consists mainly of young bees, so that comb can be produced for the queen to lay eggs and the production of royal jelly. There is no need to worry.

Thanks for that.
Obviously they do this in the wild all the time.
It just seems really close on the final numbers
ie total time from entering a new hive to reaching an age for foraging 49 days or so. Honey bee life expectancy 21-32 days.

 

[Anduril]

Thanks for that.
Obviously they do this in the wild all the time.
It just seems really close on the final numbers
ie total time from entering a new hive to reaching an age for foraging 49 days or so. Honey bee life expectancy 21-32 days.

From egg to death in the summer, 9 weeks

 

[user 22881]

From egg to death in the summer, 9 weeks

That makes sense then.
Thanks.

 

[JamezF]

I've posted this before, but I suspect the way humans count the age of bees may not be appropriate. I have no hard evidence to support my case, but reading about honey bee biology suggests to me that their "age" is at least partially defined by the work they've had to undertake. For example, feeding larvae triggers physiological changes in the workers that we might associate with "aging". If there are no larvae, or limited numbers of larvae, to feed them those changes may well not happen at all or until much later in the bee's apparent lifetime and the bees may live longer (in terms of elapsed time) than the figures that are usually quoted. In part I believe this is (part of) the process that happens with what some people call "winter bees", but I think it could equally occur during swarming.

As I said, I have no hard evidence. It seems to be to be a plausible form of behaviour based on what I understand, but that doesn't mean I couldn't be completely wrong.

James