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Author Topic: Queen getting mated question ???  (Read 1857 times)

Offline Fishing-Nut

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Queen getting mated question ???
« on: July 17, 2017, 11:11:54 am »
First off....I'd like to thank y'all for the help I receive on this site. And also apologize for all my newbie questions. I know I'm full of them. I posted on here a while back about a hive I removed from the wall of an old house. I didn't get the Queen. On July 7th I checked them and they had several capped Queen cells. I have left them alone since. My question is how long should it be before a queen is laying in this hive if the cells were capped on the 7th.
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Offline Aroc

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2017, 12:44:51 pm »
Normally they say about a month from egg to mated queen.  Queen takes about 16 days to emerge. Another week to get mated and another week to start laying eggs.

Here's the hard part....one that I have a heck of a time with.....leave them alone.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2017, 12:54:39 pm »
On average, 25 days from day you did the cutout.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Offline Fishing-Nut

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2017, 01:15:32 pm »
Thank you folks! I've been pretty good about leaving them alone so far. I just kept an eye on them to make sure they were building queen cells and all like they should. After they capped a few I haven't touched them. They were capped on the 7th. So if what I have been reading is correct there is probably a virgin queen in the hive right now. I won't bother them because I also read to not be inspecting them while a queen is preparing to go be mated. My other question is this......this nuc is beside 2 other nucs. Kind of sitting in a "W" shape. Somewhat facing different directions, what is the likely hood of her coming back and going into one of the Queen right nucs? I have seen a guy put some bright colored flagging tape on a hive before to help the queen find her way back......I got a little laugh out of that but now I'm wandering if something like that may be necessary. The guy that did it sure as heck knew more about bees than I do. What do y'all think?
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Offline Michael Bush

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Offline Oldbeavo

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2017, 06:51:35 pm »
Fishing Nut
We always put nucs in all kinds off places, near tress, shrubs, a post etc. If we put some nucs in a group then they will be at 90 degrees to each other so they have a different view of the structure the queen is orientating on.
WE paint our hives with a roller and on the final coat we will dribble a contrasting paint on the roller to give a pattern on the nuc, especially the front.
To have a mated queen lost due to going into the wrong nuc is a waste of time and sets the nuc back a month or more, depending when you find it queenless.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2017, 09:55:17 pm »
What do y'all think?

I think a bee has the scent distinction ten times that of a dog and I never knew a dog that didn't know what house was theirs.  I think like dogs if the queen gets  a better reception at someone else's house it might stay.
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Offline cao

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2017, 12:33:03 am »
I've had mating nucs in a line about 6 inches apart.  I do have my boxes painted different colors mainly because i get bored painting the same color all the time.  I don't know if it makes a difference but I would think that it would be more likely that the queen would get eaten or killed in some other way before they would have trouble finding their way back home.

Offline Oldbeavo

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2017, 07:28:42 am »
Go and look at the mating yard of a queen breeder, they are all over the place at all kinds of angles, near structures. They don't do it to look messy.
Also if a bee has such good scent ability, why do you end up with drifts if you don't have some structures for bees to orientate to?

Offline Acebird

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2017, 09:13:21 am »
Also if a bee has such good scent ability, why do you end up with drifts if you don't have some structures for bees to orientate to?

Lets face it the average bee is a slave to the colony.  How much different is it if a forager gets a good reception from another colony to drop off its load and convert.  How will its life change?
In a lot of cases these bees in different hives are all related.  It takes time for scent to build up in the hive from the different queens that occupy the structure.  I can see where confusion would be common.
What do you think would happen if you took 100 bees from three established hives and painted them a different color then let them go at night?  Do you think the color of the bees would be mixed in each hive come morning?
Brian Cardinal
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Offline little john

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2017, 12:45:52 pm »
I usually paint my boxes with whatever paint's on the brush that day, and I frequently change a colony's box while the foragers are out working - never seen them hesitate even for a second following a colour change.  But - move the box just a couple of inches to one side, and then watch them consistently arrive at where the old entrance used to be. Easier to see this with holes, rather than wide slots.

The navigational skill of the honey bee never ceases to impress me: two miles out, two miles back - and then home-in with an accuracy of an inch or two.  Seriously impressive.
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Offline Oldbeavo

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2017, 06:32:16 pm »
Littlejohn,
You are right about shifting a box and watch the bees turn up in the old position, so the bees have orientate on a position in relation to every thing around them, hive beside, tree etc.
We run our hives in loads of 50 and always put out the hives in a new spot with the weak hives in the front as they get a little drift from bees coming back that may not have orientated on their original hive properly.

Offline Fishing-Nut

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Re: Queen getting mated question ???
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2017, 10:40:02 pm »
Thank you folks for the replies. I do appreciate it.
Take a kid fishing !