New queen, old brood, when will she lay?

[ugcheleuce]

Hello everyone

Myth or fact? If you put a new, unmated queen into a queenless colony, the new queen will not start laying if there is still existing closed brood.

My two main beekeeping mentors say opposite things in this regard and I'm wondering if you can tell me whether the above belief is myth or fact (according to you).  Or, if you know that it is a fable and you know where the fable came from, or know of a URL that says so, please tell me.

Thanks
Samuel

[Kathyp]

myth.

[ugcheleuce]

Myth.

Have you come across this myth before?

[Kathyp]

Nope.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[AliciaH]

If you put a new, unmated queen into a queenless colony, the new queen will not start laying if there is still existing closed brood.

I agree with Kathy.  But, unmated?  Delay of up to 10-14 days.  Maybe someone was trying to jump that time line a bit and expected eggs too soon.

[capt44]

I imagine where that myth came from is having installed a virgin queen.
She will wander around a day or two then go on a mating flight.
It will take another 12 days or so before you will begin seeing eggs.
Another 3-4 days to begin seeing larva.

[Michael Bush]

>Myth or fact? If you put a new, unmated queen into a queenless colony, the new queen will not start laying if there is still existing closed brood.

Well, it will take a just emerged queen about two weeks to start to lay and it will take about 12 days for the capped brood to emerge... so those two kind of conincide, but that's just that they both have about the same timing, not that one causes the other... "post hoc ergo proctor hoc" is the primary error in logic...