When do queens start laying?

[Aroc]

Just a curious question.....

I've been wondering at what point do queen start to lay eggs in the winter?  I'm of course particularly intetested in when this might be in the cold north.

I understand places like Georgia, Texas and Florida may never have a queen stop.  Up here things are a bit different.

I've been told sometime in January but not real sure if this is true.

[iddee]

It is normally accepted that they start laying just after winter solstice, when the days begin getting longer. I would imagine there are other factors that may increase or delay the start, but that is the normal consensus.

[Michael Bush]

In my experience here, usually a week or two after the solstice.  Like now.  But that may only be a little bit of brood.

[BeeMaster2]

I have watched a queen in my observation hive start laying eggs right after the winter solstice. I had saved her from a hive that had been a late swarm. She had no more than a couple hundred bees by Dec 22. A week after the solstice I started seeing wet larvae on one outside frame that was about the size of a 1/2 dollar. By March, she had filled the 2 bottom frames, of an 8 frame Ob hive, with bees and a large ball of bees outside the entrance. Then they absconded even though there was a lot of room above them to move up.
Jim

[minz]

I am wondering if they have only a small cluster of brood if they will move to emergency sugar or stay and starve. I have about 5 that moved down through their stores and are in the lower box with nothing above them to get to sugar.

[stanisr]

My experience is that when the day length starts to increase and the temp begins to moderate, the queen will began to lay in a small group in the middle of the brood chamber.

[Beeboy01]

I've noticed that queens start to lay heavy once pollen is available. Depending on your area she could be starting right now.