First cells hatched 2012

[Adam]

Hi funfly, welcome to the forum.



1. There can be several mating flights over a few days if she does not mate with enough drones although it is perfectly possible that complete mating takes place in a single flight.

2. In my experience you see eggs about 2 days after a mating flight. This is based upon queens I have retrieved which have landed short of an apidea and have bees clustered around them, so I know the exact timing of the mating flight.

3. When a queen has started laying she will not take any more mating flights.

I can confirm 2 days to lay after mating. In a brief break in the cold weather a few weeks ago, the temperature here touched 21 degrees - for one day only. Looking at some colonies a few days later, eggs were present indicating that 1 day was enough and the queens had started to lay pretty much 2 days after that warm day.

[funfly]

Does this aspect of beekeeping particularly interest you, funfly? I have three Apideas on the go a few miles to the east of you now, and will be preparing a demo of grafting and queen raising for Sat 16th June at the association meeting near Longforgan.

Yes, interested in having a bash at grafting and queen rearing.
I did make a split on the 8/5/12 and expected to see evidence of a new queen laying when I check two days ago, but not eggs.

I have the 16th marked in my diary, I'll be there, mug in hand for the promised cup of tea too.