# How Soon Does A Queen Start Laying Eggs?



## Foleybees

Realizing it only takes twenty-one days for a queen to hatch, *how soon after does she start to work? *

I've got 3 nucs created from a hive having 10 queen cells. Took some and put in nucs with a couple frames of bees. Now the queens are hatched but no eggs yet. I know a couple of queens are at least a week old.


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## fish_stix

Queens actually emerge in 16 days. It normally takes a week to 10 days for them to get mated. Some do it in 3 days, some do it in 15 days. After mating, it normally takes another few days for her to start laying, and may take even another few days for her to start laying a good pattern with single eggs per cell. In other words, wait a spell before expecting to see eggs and larva! As an example, most queen breeders place a cell just a couple hours before emergence time and wait 15 days after placing the cell before checking for a laying queen.


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## scdw43

Fish stix got it right just give them time. I believe that it sometimes takes a little longer earlier in the spring.


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## Adrian Quiney WI

I've noticed in various readings that it is recommended to feed a light syrup as the queen emerges to get her up to speed faster. I've not seen an explanation of why/how it is supposed to work. Does this make much difference?


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## Foleybees

Next question: 

Is it ok to put a frame of honey in the nuc? 

Some have said you should not give them any honey.

Thanks


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## AmericasBeekeeper

The reason not to feed honey is spread of disease. If it is your honey, use it. Feeding stimulates brood production. A better indicator of brood production is pollen stores. They store the pollen to feed the queen and brood, royal jelly by consuming the pollen.


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## Michael Palmer

I depends some on the race of bee. From a Russian breeder I know, there often aren't eggs until day 20 after celling the nuc. My bees with a lot of Carniolan in them, lay several days before that.

The cell usually emerges on the second day after giving it to the nuc. We catch 16 days after celling. Most have eggs and 1 or 2 day old larvae. If the larva is 2 days old, and the egg hatched on the third day, the queens are laying on day 11 after giving the cell. If the cell emerged on day 2, then it took 9 days (roughly) after emerging for queen to lay her first eggs.

I'm seeing most start on day 11 or 12 which would mean most are laying 8 or 9 days after the virgin emerged. In a group of mating nucs with daughters from the same breeder, there is variation. Some will be as above, while some will have just started to lay.


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