I placed #5 wire over my queen on drawn out comb over eight hours ago(1:00pm est), and she hasn't laid yet. Is this typical? I'm using new comb on black plastic foundation drawn out approx. 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Not first time grafting, but first time restricting queen. Tks.
Is this in the brood nest?
It's in a four frame observation hive, bottom frame. Top frame is honey, 2nd and 3rd frames brood. Bottom frame was only drawn comb, so I moved her there. I've since pulled the screen and placed excluder material between frames to give her more freedom, but she's still leading a parade of bees and not laying. I can move the frame up to 2nd or 3rd position, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't get a different frame of comb..older wax. Tks for reply. (got the idea from your website)
With the push in cage is there enough room for bees to get in and out of the cage? It requires an extra 3/8" or so to allow bees inside the cage and still have room for bees on the other side of the cage so they can get in and out.
Bees had room to get to her, and did. I used excluder material for face of enclosure, with #5 mesh edged. Zip tied all the seams tight. I have 1 7/8" gap between glass. I ended up letting her go back to a brood frame, and placed excluder material above and below that frame. I'll have to hunt for proper aged larvae, but at least I know what frame they will be concentrated on. I wasted a lot of time but learning. I think mesh enclosure would have worked best in regular body hive, but wanted to watch progress in observation hive.