# How long before I start seeing capped brood?



## bison (Apr 27, 2011)

Brood is capped 9 days after eggs have been laid, so still a bit early. You should see larvae pretty soon though - they're a lot easier to spot than eggs. Just be patient - wait another week and check again.

The queen you received with the package is almost certainly already mated so no need to worry about drones. Your hive will start to produce drones after a month or two. Drone cells are easy to spot (bigger than brood and often found in odd corners of the hive), and drones are quite distinguishble from worker bees.

Long and short, all sounds fine with your hive, just be patient.


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## Aerindel (Apr 14, 2012)

> Where do drones come from and do I need one before eggs can be fertilized?


Drones come from unfertilized eggs laid by the queen. Drone cells are larger than normal cells and have a domed cap instead of a flat one. The queen that came with your packages should already have been mated. The queen stores enough sperm to last her entire life so the eggs she lays are already fertilized, its not like fish eggs that are first laid and then fertilized by a passing male.

Don't worry about seeing capped cells but you should be able to see eggs and larvae by now. Eggs are tiny little white specks like miniature grains of rice in the bottom of cells. Larvae will look like curled up white maggots in liquid at the bottom of cells. You should at least be seeing eggs by now and some larvae.


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## Bees In Miami (Nov 30, 2012)

druthebeeK: Before your next inspection, I suggest you spend some time on google...google 'honey bee frame images', 'bee egg images', etc...so you know what you are looking for. There are a lot of images out there, and it is also a TON easier to look on a computer screen than on a frame of live bees! You Tube is also a good resource! Everything sounds like it's going just fine. You will have a much better idea what you see if you familiarize yourself using pics first. I can't even tell you how many hours I spent looking at pics and videos since getting bees! 

Also, as somebody explained, the Queen, once mated (in flight), is fertile for life. FYI...Once a drone mates with a queen, his 'boy part' falls off and he dies. Honest.  Just an interesting tid bit...


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## Commander147 (Apr 22, 2013)

I am close to you in IL and also installed on Apr 20th. I thought my hives would be a good comparison to yours as we are in the same area. I am seeing the same progress in two hives, middle 4 frames drawn out, nectar, pollen in some cells. I did see some larva in both of my hives but nothing capped yet. Good luck -


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

I am new to bee keeping. My question may be idiotic but here goes...if the queen is mated and stores sperm can she actually decide what eggs are covered with sperm to produce workers and which are not to produce drones? Also in mammals (quite different from bees) the y chromosome comes from the sperm not the egg and that determines if the offspring is to be male. How does bee genetics work to produce unfertilized eggs that become drones and fertilized eggs that become female nurse bees/workers? Hope this question makes some sense.


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## Aerindel (Apr 14, 2012)

> .if the queen is mated and stores sperm can she actually decide what eggs are covered with sperm to produce workers and which are not to produce drones?


Yes, amazing isn't it? 



> How does bee genetics work to produce unfertilized eggs that become drones and fertilized eggs that become female nurse bees/workers? Hope this question makes some sense.


Unfertilized eggs have one copy off all the chromosomes needed to make a bee.(in humans our eggs only have half of the genetic material needed to make a human and cannot develop without the other half.) These all develop as males. A fertilized egg has two complete sets of chromosomes which make the bee develop as either a sterile female (worker) or fertile female (queen, if they are given royal jelly at the right stage of life) 

What is even stranger is that sometimes a worker will become fertile and start laying eggs, but because she is not mated they will all hatch as drones.


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## druthebeek (Apr 17, 2013)

Thanks for all the information!!!! Just a nervous daddy wanting to be successful. I will try to be patient and keep an eye on them.
Commander147 -- It's nice to know someone who started the same time I did so we can compare notes. I am attaching a couple of pictures I captured from a video of my middle frames (5 & 6) for you to compare to.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Here is a photo showing a variety of brood comb cells:









The photo is from the _Brood Comb_ definition in the Beesource Glossary, here:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?237911-Beekeeping-Glossary

Eggs are sometimes difficult to see. I find larva are much easier.  Eggs hatch into larva 3 1/2 days after they are laid. Reference here:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm


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## xcugat (Mar 4, 2008)

As a "Daddy" I would highly recommend some reading on bees prior to getting them so you have some understanding as to what is going on in the hive--being that that ship has sailed I would recommend you start reading now! -Many new bees think that oh its just bugs in a box how hard can it be---pretty hard if you dont know what to look for if a problem comes and a 100 dollar package is not the best learn-from-mistakes tool


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