# How long for an II Q to start laying?



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Not specific to II, but a queen that has been banked a while often takes two weeks. On the outside I've seen 18 days.


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## adamf (Jan 28, 2006)

BerkeyDavid said:


> Looking for your experience with II Queens. Been 10 days and still not laying. Probably should have waited 2 weeks to check on her but got anxious.


Hi,
Ten days is at the upper edge--how did you introduce her and into what? A hive, small nuc?

Adam Finkelstein
www.vpqueenbees.com


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## JohnBeeMan (Feb 24, 2004)

I had a VSH queen that I introduced on April 8. She did start laying within two weeks but not a lot and a bit spotty. Yesterday I discovered that she is missing and there are 3 queen cell (two capped and one ready to be capped). She never did really get started very well and would have been pinched earlier except for her high cost. I am hoping her daughters will be better.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Mine typically start laying pretty quickly. I always use a push in cage over emerging brood and check back in one week. Usually all the cells under the push in cage are full of eggs when I open it up.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Introduced with a pushin cage over emerging brood. The hive is treating her well, just not laying. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks I will check her again.

Getting anxious to start grafting.

Thanks for answers.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

*Checked the Breeder Q tonight*

She is laying like a trooper, all eggs, must have started in last few days, it is 14 days since she was introduced. Hope to start graft sequence in a few days now.


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## The Bee Man from Oz (May 21, 2008)

*II Queens*

What is the reference "II Queens" -
sorry not sure - is "II " a reference to 2nd generation bloodstock?

also noted a ref to VSH - the term is not at once familiar - can anyone humour me with such basic info? I've read a lot on Queen breeding, only done a little - successfully in a small way - just not up on these terms - maybe USA specific (I am in Qld, Australia)

regards
to fellow buzz-ards (ard working buzz bee keepers)







BerkeyDavid said:


> Looking for your experience with II Queens. Been 10 days and still not laying. Probably should have waited 2 weeks to check on her but got anxious.


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

I believe they are discussing instrumental insemination


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## Gene Weitzel (Dec 6, 2005)

II = instrumental insemination

VSH = varroa specific hygiene


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## The Honey House (May 10, 2000)

*Weather?*



BerkeyDavid said:


> She is laying like a trooper, all eggs, must have started in last few days, it is 14 days since she was introduced. Hope to start graft sequence in a few days now.


How has the weather been? 
years ago, when I started nucs too early in April, my caged southern queens would take a couple of weeks before they would start laying. I recall one going exactly 21 days.
I was on my way to pinch her and finally saw some eggs.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

*Update*

Well there was nothing wrong with my II Queen. She had actually laid about a dozen eggs on the 10th day after introduction, I just failed to see them.

I confined her again on Friday on the empty comb but of course it wasn't empty, had a dozen hatched larvae on it from when she had been confined on it the week before.

So in retrospect, she was probably just starting to lay 10 days after introduction. As in most things it seems most of the times it is beekeeper error and nothing wrong with the bees!  But easier to blame the bees.

Weather has been cool, some really chilly nights. Lost some frames of sealed brood to the chill because not enough bees in the split to keep them warm I think. But no frosts or freezes, it is shaping up to be a real boomer of a nectar flow imo. The basswood trees are full of more buds then I have ever seen and the sweet clover is really growing.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*For Gene: Breeder Queens with Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) or Suppressed*

http://members.aol.com/queenb95/smr.html

Breeder Queens with Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) or Suppressed ...Recent tests have shown that VSH/SMR queens retain an acceptable level of mite resistance when they are free mated to unselected drones. ...
members.aol.com/queenb95/smr.html - 30k - Cached - Similar pages 



Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

I leave my breeder queens alone for two weeks after introduction to allow them time to set the broodnest proper. I've never had one lost due to going into the hive too early. Mine are usually laying within a week from being introduced.


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## tonyp (Mar 16, 2008)

BerkeyDavid can you give an update on that queen?


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Sure. Thanks for asking

Short answer, Queen doing fine, first batch of queens have hatched, have not yet mated. Got three cells out of 10 grafts. Long answer:

Second graft was a total failure. Not the fault of the queen, but of the beek.
I have built a full frame cage out of plastic queen excluder material. The cage sits in the middle of the box. After the queen was confined in there for 24 hours I took the queen out but left the frame of eggs in. 

Went to graft them on Saturday, and none of the eggs had hatched! I practiced grafting by transferring the eggs, but as you would expect the swarm box did not start anything, although they tried.

Thought I had lost my mind for a while and miscounted the days. Read and reread the spivak reuter manual. Finally went and reread Laidlaw & Page on Q rearing. THey say you should put the frame of eggs in an excludered box with lots of brood and nurse bees to incubate the eggs.

I am almost certain that is why the eggs failed to hatch, there just weren't enough bees willing to go through the excluder and incubate the eggs. And since the frame is in the bottom box and we had some very windy days and cool nights probably just didn't get incubated properly.

Once I realized the eggs didn't hatch, I put them in the swarm box and waited another 24 hours thinking they might hatch. That was stupid. SHould have just returned the nurse bees I had in the swarm box and started over.

To make matters worse, the swarm box I made developed a minor failure. When I sharply dropped the box to take out the egg frame to graft, apparently the weight of the bees on the screen caused it to pull out a few staples. So about 2-3 pounds of bees ended up escaping into my workshop over the next 24 hours!
 

Well now I have fixed the leak in the swarm box by screwing wood strips over all edges of screen.

I have the queen caged again tonight and will take the frame of eggs I hope she lays and stick them in my cell builder tomorrow so they get plenty of incubation, then plan to graft again on Sunday.

Learning curve for sure. But very interesting and rewarding, learning a lot.

The breeder queen hive is surprisingly strong and puts up with all my manipulations and gawking quite well.


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## tonyp (Mar 16, 2008)

Thanks BD I enjoy reading about II queens and their performance in the field. I am thinking about buying some II equipment next year and I'm trying to read all I can about it, especially II vs. open mated. Your helping my learning curve too. Tony


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