queen mating question

[Mklangelo]

How long after a queen emerges does she mate(assuming a drone is present)?  And how long after mating can she lay?


Thanks

[Brian D. Bray]

The queen will usually begin mating 3-4 days after hatching and should start to lay around day 10-12.

[Mklangelo]

The queen will usually begin mating 3-4 days after hatching and should start to lay around day 10-12.

thanks Brian,

I pretty sure I have either a queenless hive or a virgin queen since the queen cell was empty as of 5/17.  So I'm gonna put a frame of brood in from one of my other hives and check it again in a few days for a queen cell.  I don't think there is a queen in there since there is no brood at all... nada.   By those calculations, I should have seen brood since there is a decent chance she emerged prior to the 17th. 

Queens are confusing little critters. 

[Brian D. Bray]

>>Queens are confusing little critters.

So is every female creature I am aware of, especially the human type.

[TwT]

I have seen queens take 2 weeks to mate and 2 more weeks after that before they got to laying good, I seen this as much as seen the 3-4 days before mating and 2 weeks laying.

[Michael Bush]

>How long after a queen emerges does she mate(assuming a drone is present)?

It matters not if a drone is present.  She will go to the drones and they probably won't be any she knows. 

Usually sometime between five and eight days after she emerges she'll go on a mating flight.  Sometimes between 9 and 19 days after she emerges she will be laying.  Usually by about two weeks.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm

> And how long after mating can she lay?

Start to lay?  46 hours.  How long can she lay?  Seven years sometimes.

[Sean Kelly]

I've got a mating question...

I'm the only beek in my area for about 10 miles or so.  I just did a split and the two hives are my only ones.  So once the new queen emerges and she mates, the drone will be her brother.  Is this bad for genetics?  Should I have bought a new queen for the queenless hive instead of letting them do it naturally?  Didn't even think of this until now.  Man, I hope I didn't screw up.    :-\

Sean Kelly

[asprince]

You have no way of knowing how many wild hives that are in your area. In a tree, under the siding of someones house or shed. Drones may be closer than you think.

[Michael Bush]

This year almost all my queens are taking three weeks from emergence to eggs.  It's getting frustrating.  If they don't end up with a queen and I can't figure it out they have laying workers by then...

[Cindi]

Michael, sounds like you have a mystery on your hands.  I would be very anxious for you to figure it out and let us know what the answer is.  Have a wonderful day, great life.  Cindi

[Michael Bush]

My guess is the weather.  Queens don't seem to want to fly when nectar isn't flowing.  I'm not sure why, but that seems to be the way of it.  Of course they also don't want to fly when it's raining or windy, but that hasn't been a problem enough to explain the extra week's delay.

[Cindi]

Michael, right, never will fully understand the bees, eh?  Have a great day, great life.  Cindi

[Michael Bush]

That's why they are so fascinating and addicting.

[timgoodin]

How long does the queen stay out on a mating flight typically (weeks, days, or minutes or hours)?  I have two nucs I started from a hive that wanted to swarm.  Nice queen cells with nice virgin queens hatching out that I saw.  Now the queens are both gone and the bees trying to make more queen cells.  I gave them some more brood and eggs but just wonder what might have happened to the nice virgins?   Weather has been nice, workers bringing in nectar and pollen.  I'm going to check them again tomorrow to be sure there is no eggs or brood other than that I provided from another hive and look for the queen again in each but I've checked them twice and still not found the queens after the initial find.

Tim

[Michael Bush]

>How long does the queen stay out on a mating flight typically (weeks, days, or minutes or hours)?

An hour or less.

>  I have two nucs I started from a hive that wanted to swarm.  Nice queen cells with nice virgin queens hatching out that I saw.  Now the queens are both gone and the bees trying to make more queen cells.

The virgins are not coming back if they are making more queen cells.

> I gave them some more brood and eggs but just wonder what might have happened to the nice virgins?

Dragon flys, swallows, windsheilds...

[peggjam]

There are all matter of pierels that a virgin faces when going on mating flights.  Most do ok, but some never come back.  Just the way it works.