I've made sevreal nuc's from swarm cells and was wondering, how long of a window does a queen have to get bred from the time shr emerges. I don't know when the cells were capped and it's rained for 5 days straight, so i don't know if, or when they hatched? Thanks for any info. Jack
Jack: it is also good to remind folks that there is a fairly tight afternoon schedule for the bee to do the romance thingee.
http://www.thebeeyard.org/queencalendar ... &year=2011 Jack here is a good calender that you can change the dates on to suit your findings, I thought it was very helpful.
Thanks to all, i was concerned whether they would get bred enough to be a good queen. I made up two more nuc's yesterday, seen alot of activity around one hive and checked to see what was going on, sure enough more swarm cells. I'm blaming it on all the cool and rainy weather,( all the swarm cells) but i don't requeen unless they need it. I have some queens 2 and 3 years old( i think), i don't mark my queens but do check them enough to know they haven't been superseded.Another question,i know she breeds several times, but, does a queen get bred more than once on a single flight? I know she makes several mating flights but don't recall hearing how many times she can mate on a single flight. Jack