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Laying Queen
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Posted by gardeningfireman 5-NEOhio (My Page) on Mon, Jun 29, 09 at 20:04
This is my first year beekeeping. I have one good, strong hive, and one smaller one from a swarm I caught in May. The swarm hive did not have a queen. I got two queen cells and frames from another beekeeper/county inspector, and also put in a frame of eggs/young brood from my other hive. A queen emerged about 9 or 10 days ago. I saw her about 8 days ago. I checked the hive today, but could not find her. More importantly, I found no eggs or young brood. How long does it normally take for a new queen to mate and start laying? Should I be concerned now, or wait another week?
Thank you! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Laying Queen
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| I usally wait 2 to 3 weeks. Konrad |
RE: Laying Queen
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| Give them one more frame of brood with eggs on it from the strong hive just in case and then shut the lid for a month and a half. They will roll a new queen if you disturb them before she has a chance to prove herself. |
RE: Laying Queen
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| Thanks for the info! I checked the hive yesterday(Saturday), and found lots of eggs and a fair amount of young brood! The workers also have drawn out more foundation. I feel a whole lot better now! |
RE: Laying Queen
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| Last week the inspector and I checked this hive and guess what? The queen and all her new bees were gone! All they left was a small amount of capped brood, about a dozen queen cells, and roughly the same number of workers that I started with. I had put a second deep box on, but they didn't draw it out. They must have felt too crowded in the drawn out bottom box. Now I'm in the same position I was in at the end of June. What a Bummer!! |
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