The queenless hive into which I introduced the queen from the supplier about 10 days after its arrival in my beeyard still shows no signs of having a queen.
The queen was freed from the queen cage on 25th of April.
I looked in the hive yesterday (May 6) and there is still no brood, no eggs, no larvae. And no sign of the queen who had a large red dot on her back.
I had added a frame of brood and eggs while waiting for the new queen. That frame has only one queen cell on it and that one has been ripped out the side. So I assume there is/has been a functioning queen.
So I added another frame of brood and eggs yesterday for insurance.
Perhaps this hive has a virgin queen. There is no queenless roar and I am wondering if I should wait and see and then combine with another hive. I know if there is a virgin queen, perhaps now mated, that it will be about 3 weeks before I should see any activity in the way of eggs, etc.
I guess I've answered my own question - which must be that I should wait about a month before combining, but what will the many, many bees in this hive do while we are all waiting? How long do you all think I should I wait before combining?
Linda T in Atlanta
MB says "A new queen takes 2 weeks to get mated and start laying." Give it some time is my opinion. You certainly have all your options covered with this hive.
Good Luck
Annette
Even a mated banked queen (which most commercial queens are) often take two weeks or so to start to lay.
Linda, yep, with the bees it is always wait and see, it is like a game they like to play with ya. You are doing good, just hang tough, that queen will no doubt show you it was worth the wait, hee, hee. Love our life we live. Cindi
The best queens are those pulled from their mating nucs and caged and placed within the package just before the worker bees are added. As MB points out, this doesn't always happen. A queen that has been in a mating nuc or queen bank has run out of room to lay eggs and goes into the equivalent of a drought shutdown so she won't start laying again until there is ample evidence of sustained harvest avavilable and comb to lay in.
A newly mated queen (3-7 days) placed in a package will be much more like a swarm queen and may even start laying on foundation before it is more than 1/4 of the way drawn. I love swarm queens for that reason. I'll take an after swarm queen over a commercial one for that very reason.