My bees swarmed approximately 2 weeks ago and I was hoping the remaining colony would make a new queen. My husband and I did an inspection on Monday and again this afternoon, hoping to find a queen or eggs and we still haven't seen any. The one hopeful thing is that we did find maybe 10 or so open queen cells and maybe a couple unopened ones, but that was it. There's still a nice population of bees there and tons of honey and pollen and some capped brood, but no sign of a laying queen at the moment. What do you suggest I do? Continue being patient in hopes that some of those open queen cells produced a soon to be viable queen, or order a queen right away? Is it too late to requeen in Vermont? The one place I planned on getting a queen from if I ever needed to requeen is out for the year, so if I do need to order one, I'd love to hear any suggestions on where to get one. Thanks everyone!
It could take up to 28 days (per Michael Bush) until you see any eggs. This actually happened to me and it did take that long before I saw anything.
Thank you Annette. You're always so great about answering my questions. Maybe someday you'll ask something I'll be able to answer, but it's not likely! :roll: So it's been maybe 14 or 15 days since I think the swarm occurred so based on the 28 day figure, there's definitely still hope. Next question, if I get to the full 28 days and we're still queenless, that would make it mid-September here in Vermont. Would that then make it too late to requeen? When is "too late to requeen"?
A frame of eggs and open brood never hurts, but as Annette says it may take 28 days to get a laying queen.