Queens not laying yet

[Tyro]

hello all,

I hived my two packages of bees last week when they arrived (thanks again to all who helped with that!).  They were installed on drawn frames from my two hives that didn't make it through the winter (2-3 frames of honey, 1 frame of pollen, 2-3 undrawn frames, 4-5 frames of drawn foundation).  I checked on them yesterday evening - the queens had been released, but were not yet laying.  I didn't find even one egg in either of the hives.  They also aren't taking any pollen from the patties I placed on top of the bars.  Is this normal?  I have only ever established one other hive from a package and that queen started laying right away.

My one thought on this is that the bees came from California.  Here, in ND, it is still 50-60 degrees with temps in the 30's at night.  Could the shift in conditions be holding up egg laying?

Thanks for replies

mike

[Brian D. Bray]

hello all,

I hived my two packages of bees last week when they arrived (thanks again to all who helped with that!).  They were installed on drawn frames from my two hives that didn't make it through the winter (2-3 frames of honey, 1 frame of pollen, 2-3 undrawn frames, 4-5 frames of drawn foundation).  I checked on them yesterday evening - the queens had been released, but were not yet laying.  I didn't find even one egg in either of the hives.  They also aren't taking any pollen from the patties I placed on top of the bars.  Is this normal?  I have only ever established one other hive from a package and that queen started laying right away.

My one thought on this is that the bees came from California.  Here, in ND, it is still 50-60 degrees with temps in the 30's at night.  Could the shift in conditions be holding up egg laying?

Thanks for replies

mike

If they queens haven't started laying in 3 weeks after queen release or hiving of a package then get concerned.  It often occurs in packages and hives, after a swarm as left, that the queen will wait that long before beginning to lay.  Temperatures can affect the situation, especially if warm weather bees are moved into cold weather locations.

[Tyro]

Thanks Brian.  That is what I suspected, but it had never happened to me before.  The bees came from Red Bluff, Ca, where temps haven't gotten below 50 for a few weeks.  I hived them here and temps are fluctuating from highs of the 70's some days to lows almost freezing at night.  I am planning a second peek into the hives later this week - that will be 2 weeks post hiving, I will expect to see some eggs!

Mike

[wisconsin_cur]

Thanks for this thread.  I was concerned about one of my packages, the last time I checked it was two weeks after the install into new frames.  One queen had growing larva the other did not.  I will check it again as soon as weather allows but am less anxious going into it currently.