I could NOT find any queen today. All 3 hives have brood of workers and drones. It just seemed daunting and like it was taking forever, so maybe it was more mental than anything else. Except the first hive I went slow and just could not see her.
Anyway, I put excluders in between every box.
So, how many days should I wait until I look for her. I am asking because I am thining that they take longer to cap drones than workers and they seem to be laying a lot of drones.
Looking for 1 bee among the thousands is like looking for a needle in a hay bale. Instead, look for a group of bees. Scan the whole frames, then scan them in smaller sections. You will often see the circle of attendant bees in a circle, which points at the queen. Some people (myself included) start with the frames on the far side of the box and work back to the nearer frames.
You should at least see eggs. If you have new eggs, your queen is more than likely fine.
I very seldom waste time looking for a queen.
I look for capped and uncapped brood and eggs.
When I see the brood capped and uncapped brood and then eggs I know I have a laying queen.
I look no further unless I am setting up a cloake board.
I want to graft, so I need to find her to put her in a timing area. I don't think I will have good success if I choose larvae from 3 boxes.
The larvae you want are as small a larva as you can find. An imperfection on the surface of the royal jelly is perfect. Anything that doesn't fill the bottom of the cell will do. Something in between is most likely. You don't have to find the queen to find the right age larvae.
http://cocorkbka.org/queen-rearing-last-june/
If you really need to find the queen:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm
Not understanding the "timing" area has she been a BAD queen? Irregardless... as you look at a frame of open brood, the queen typically lays rom the center of the frame outward. In the center of the frame you will have larger larvae, as you scan toward the edges they will get smaller and smaller. What you are looking for, is a larvae, that is the same size or smaller than an egg. Those are the ones you call pay dirt.
Finding the queen is a matter of conditioning and practice. Playing find the queen with a picture of a frame of bees DOES help. The more of them you look at, the better you will get. If you can find videos with queens, watch those as well.
Soon, you will find yourself looking AT the queen before you know your looking at her. If you know a local beek that sells queens, volunteer to assist when he is boxing them.
A lot of websites say to pull different frames when you start an inspection.. Thee are some valid reasons to do so.. I prefer to start against one wall or the other, because there is usually a space between frame and wall, greater than the space between frames. You can move the outer frame over slightly, breaking the propolis holding it down, then lift it out gently, and you only have one side where bees are against bees, the other side is a wooden wall that is not as likely to roll bees and make them angry, OR, if the queen is there, less likely to roll her and harm her.
Most things I do in the hive are about the odds.. the ODDS of the queen being on the outside frame, are LESS than her being nearer the brood chamber. That doesnt mean you can be careless.. I pull the outside frame, look it over well... usually it has nectar and possibly some pollen in it, not much else.. I set it aside, THEN, I have all the room I need to pull frames and inspect for the queen. You are of course welcome to do it your way!
Some queens to look at and for, multiple pictures near the bottom of the page. Good hunting! ;
http://www.outyard.net/queens.html
why are you looking for the queen? if you're finding eggs and the hive seems healthy you don't really need to find her unless you're making splits (and even then you don't really have to find her depending on your method).
sorry, i just realized my post wasn't very helpful. when you first open the brood chamber look for a couple of frames where there seem to be more bees then start at the side nearest those frames and work toward them. but, unless you need to find the queen i wouldn't spend any more time disrupting the brood nest than i had to.
Guys, if you read the post you'd understand why he needs to find the queen;
I want to graft, so I need to find her to put her in a timing area.
Thanks, to everyone. I will be going in tomorrow to try to find her. She has been excluded for 4 days and might even graft too. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted.