only one of the hives being re-queened had any brood. queens were installed last Thursday, exactly a week. the hive that had brood has 3 sealed queen cells. the new queen is still caged. what are the chances of queen acceptance now considering the queen cells???
were the queen cells started before you put the new queen in?
as for the ones not showing eggs yet, one week may not be enough. give them a few more days. are you good at seeing eggs? if you are not sure, take pictures and then look on your computer. they are easier to see that way.
edit: when did you pinch the old queens? how long did you leave them queenless?
I snuffed the queens 24 hours before installing the new queens. I did not find any queen cells at that time. as I said the queens have been in the hives exactly one week today. the new queen is still caged. should I release her? the hive seems to be fine with her being there.
She will be killed if there are queen cells in the hive. I would either make a nuc with her, or remove the cells.
will removing the cells solve the problem?? should I wait 24 hours after removing the cells. it's been long enough that there are probably no more eggs left to make a queen.
I would remove the cells, then allow them to release her, or release in another 3 days.
The cells would be a great way to start another nuc or two.
thanks iddee. that's what i'll do.
not having enough bees to make up a nuc I removed the queen cells & stuffed a small marshmallow in the candy hole to slow down the queens release.. it's a shame too. the frame with the cells would have been perfect to start a nuc. because of this cool wet spring here has the girls have been slow to build up.