# Splits and queen cells



## janellesHoneyRockets (Sep 6, 2013)

Ok ive done my first split,, yeahhttp://www.beesource.com/forums/images/smilies/applause.gif it went well, the hive I took the frames from had 12 queen cells, and I put four in the nuc I made, but I forgot to shake some bees into the nuc, but there were plenty of bees on the frames, and covering all the queen cells and brood, would I have to do anything else,none of the queen cells I just saw are hatched yet,none. im like an anxous mother awaiting a newborn baby to come, and what happenes then after they duke it out. I already caught the swarm that swarmed out the box and shes in a nuc. :applause:any advice what I should now.


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## Paulemar (Aug 28, 2013)

Well, do the bee math. Queen cells are capped at about day 8 and a virgin queen emerges around day 16. It will be another 5-7 days for that queen to harden off and be ready to take her mating flight. It could be another 5-7 days before she starts laying. Be patient and leave the bees alone. They are better at this than we are. I just went through this same thing 2 days ago and decided to not bother the bees until near the end of the month. This time I did not forget to shake in extra bees like I did the last time.


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## janellesHoneyRockets (Sep 6, 2013)

[ok, first off,i had 13 queen cells in one hive, and I went in to look, and c if any hatched, they did, and I c no hide or hair of them, its like they disappeared, I have two queen less hives, and I waiting for them to hatch, the nuke too, has hatched,i put 4 from the main hive in to it, it was to be a split, it is, but with no queen, also how long does it take to get mated, and get back home, does the newly hatched queen stay out at night,i have six hives so she should have not had to go far.how many days does this take.


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## BadBeeKeeper (Jan 24, 2015)

1) Newly hatched queen should not stay out at night. She will stay in the hive for a little while, then do some orientation flights, then mating flight.

2) It doesn't matter how many hives you have in the area as to how far the queen will go to get mated, it's not like a woman of loose morals sauntering next door for a quickie with the neighbor. Drones hang out in places called "Drone Congregation Areas" (DCAs) which may be some distance(s) from your hives. Drones from your hives may or may not be there, and some may or may not follow her.

3) After the mating flight, the queen should return fairly soon. If she doesn't make it back that day, she probably won't get back at all.

As for the rest of what you wrote, with the run-on sentences and improper punctuation, and lack of question-marks...it's too much effort for me to try to figure it out. Maybe someone else with more time, patience and some ESP can give it a shot.


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