# Split not looking good



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

I am sure you have a queen in there especially if you saw the queen cells. The whitish stuff is indeed royal jelly. What I notice most is the cells are cleaned and look nice and shiny waiting for the queen to lay. She doesn't always hold to the schedule, so if you wait another week I'm sure you will be surprised to see how much the hive had done ( and the queen) when you take a look. The fact that the hive took down the QC indicates that one did indeed hatch and killed the other ones.


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## sr4440 (Nov 30, 2016)

Reading Michael Bush bee math, your not far off of the timeline. the long number is 33 days to lay her 1st egg. 

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


Joe


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## Matt_inSC (May 12, 2015)

The frame you added from the other hive will be very telling. I'd check it in ~5 days. If it has a/some queen cells being started then the hive is indeed most likely queenless. If no queen cell, the the hive likely does have a queen. If the latter, perhaps the 5 days will also give you a better feel for there being brood present (larva/brood).

Overall, 35 days should not result in a large decline in bee population provided the original hive had the brood left in it (I think I'm right on this but may be incorrect on Taranov method). The new queen and nurse bees were moved into a new hive and she's laying there now. Her original brood (left in original hive) should take about 21 days for all to emerge. So another 14 days (to get to your 35 days) shouldn't result in a decline in bees.


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## NickAdams314 (May 19, 2016)

That all definitely sounds encouraging, maybe it is not quite as bad as I thought. I had been looking at a book that showed egg laying starting at day 23 (or more but didnt go into a lot of detail on the "more"), and was worried that 35 was a *lot* more. But if Michael Bush is saying up to 33, then it may not be too far off the bubble!

Thanks for the insight and encouragement, I appreciate it!


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## DanielD (Jul 21, 2012)

Seeing the royal jelly at 35 days could mean that first eggs were laid on day 30-31. After a split, the queen could emerge in 12-14 days or so, 2-3 weeks later laying. It sounds like it's good. I have seen them laying 7 days after emerging queen, up to almost 3 weeks later. Often the queen starts laying right after you start to get concerned.


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## NickAdams314 (May 19, 2016)

The folks who were optimistic that the queen was in there were all correct!

I got back out there and opened the hive on day 49, and found three frames of mixed open and closed brood in a nice uniform pattern. Queen is definitely in there and going to town!

The other half of the split is also doing well. 

Thanks to all for the encouragement and info!


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## DanielD (Jul 21, 2012)

:applause: Always fun to find a new queen going to town.


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