# How soon do I need a queen



## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

I check newly emerged virgins in three weeks. no eggs is a failed attempt. I often find mated queens with capped brood already. so 3 weeks is the long method. I would think the bees will become laying workers trying to rear another queen at this point.


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

If you are going in every few days you can interrupt the mating = failed queen. I check two weeks after queen has emerged for eggs if there are no eggs I give a frame of young larva and eggs just in case.


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## oneamateur (Apr 26, 2015)

Thanks... I just put a frame of young larva but I could not see the eggs. I guess I have to wait for 2 weeks.


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

oneamateur said:


> Thanks... I just put a frame of young larva but I could not see the eggs. I guess I have to wait for 2 weeks.


If they make queen cells on the frame you put in those queens will emerge in two weeks. So check that frame for queen cells In a couple of days. If they made queen cells on that frame the wait time is more like a month for eggs.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

oneamateur said:


> about 3 weeks ago.


It takes about three weeks from a capped cell to a laying queen. Give it another week and check. If you still find nothing take a frame with some eggs from another colony and intro to the colony that's in question about queen. Would not hurt to put a frame with eggs in it now if you're anxious.


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## m0dem (May 14, 2016)

Daniel Y said:


> I check newly emerged virgins in three weeks. no eggs is a failed attempt. I often find mated queens with capped brood already. so 3 weeks is the long method. I would think the bees will become laying workers trying to rear another queen at this point.


Open brood suppresses laying workers. Laying workers are in every hive. If he adds a frame of proper queen age larvae, and then over the next weeks adds more frames of open brood. There shouldn't be laying workers.
Right, Michael Bush?
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

If you use the wrong age larvae they will attempt to make the
emergency queens using the older larvae because no young larvae/eggs are
present when you added the frame in. So make sure they have a 3 days old
larvae or eggs. The older larvae queens will be superseded later on. Winter is not
far away. I would buy them a mated queen instead if you can.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

m0dem said:


> Open brood suppresses laying workers. Laying workers are in every hive. If he adds a frame of proper queen age larvae, and then over the next weeks adds more frames of open brood. There shouldn't be laying workers.
> Right, Michael Bush?
> http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm


The link you provide is to information regarding why bees convert to laying workers. it also covers how to revert them back to non laying. Requiring several frames of brood over a few weeks. I have done that and have decided it requires as many frames of bees to revert workers back as it would require to make a split. and the result is I have a box full of queenless bees. Same time and effort used toward other methods has proven far more productive. I am not certain that adding a frame of open brood to bees that have already been queenless for weeks would prevent laying workers. I have at times checked on mated queens after three weeks from introducing a virgin and found them to already be laying workers. So it seems to me that a compartment failing to get a mated queen is already within days of converting. again I am not sure a single frame of open brood is going to prevent them from laying. Not only that but I would not want my tiny two frame compartment to be the place a queen cell is produced.
There is an additional issue I see takes place. someone finds a hive queenless, or a queen cell somewhere and attempts to produce a new colony from it. Failure of that attempt is then often followed by throwing more resources at further attempts with dogged determination. with little regard for just how much resources are being put toward it. A queen cell if an opportunity, by all means take it if you have the ability. but if it's final result is failure than accept that and move on. In the case of two colonies that one has become queenless. depending on many factors such as how long have then been queenless etc. I see this as an opportunity to let the bees replace their queen. failure to do so also removes the opportunity in my thinking . they had a chance, they failed, new answer. Which in my case is to combine them with a strong colony making a colony capable of making numbers of strong queen cells and many attempts then become possible. I am leaving the blanks of how to get that done empty. But the general result is on average 15 to20 cells produced. 15 to 20 new attempts to get mated queens and as many as 4 or 5 new nucs eventually produced. All from the same resources that could have been used to produce one single nuc with a mated queen.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, during the summer time a failed nuc is more likely to produce the 
LWs. In the early Spring there is more time before they turn into one often a week or 2
more. Since I make my after the solstice queens in a divided mating nuc set up any failed 
nuc with the queen MIA will be combined with the successfully mated queen in the adjacent nuc. 
This is also the fastest way to increase the nuc population in the shortest amount of time as they
need to grow some winter bees before the cold weather really hits.


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## oneamateur (Apr 26, 2015)

I live in NW Florida. Winter will not be here until late November. But I'll keep that in mind.


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## oneamateur (Apr 26, 2015)

Finally, after stealing frames of broods from my strong hive, my queen less bee hive made 2 supersedure cells. I am excited.


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

Next year you could try to get some nucs going on earlier so when a late season crisis hits you do a simple combine. Around here I'm noticing lots of dead drones on the ground this time of year, so getting a good mating becomes more iffy. Good luck with getting a queen mated. Its lots of fun seeing the first eggs laid.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

FL is more like a tropical environment almost all year long.
So I don't think the drones will disappear anytime soon. Making new
queens after the solstice in the cold country is harder. I still see drones here on
the last batch of the queen cells. We're into the 100F almost everyday until mid-Sept?
I'll test out another batch soon to push the bee limit a little.


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