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Queen behavior before fully mated

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Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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  • April 3, 2014 at 7:01 pm #8262
    susan rudnicki
    Participant

    I am still not clear on the behavior of a queen after she hatches out, but before she is fully mated over a number of days. I have seen virgin queens in my nucs. A split I made 17 days ago from a frame with eggs, reared two queen cells. I looked for a virgin queen and see none at 6:30 in the evening, which is a time of day when I would expect her to be there—not on a mating flight. What do you all think is happening?

    April 4, 2014 at 9:05 am #8265
    susan rudnicki
    Participant

    Michael Bush sent me this answer—

    There should be one unless she is on a mating flight and those don’t
    usually take long, but that does not mean you will see her. Virgins are
    runny, flighty and like to hide. They are also not much bigger than a
    worker and don’t move anything like a queen. Sometimes they are
    impossible to find in a two frame mating nuc with really good eyes for
    finding a queen… I figure average before you find eggs is two weeks.
    It could be as long as three and as short as one.
    ————————-

    I have seen VQs in my nucs before and just assumed I would find her this time. She is definitely shorter than a mature queen, but her orange legs and abdominal coloring have been the i.d. traits I noted.

    April 8, 2014 at 7:18 pm #8288
    Stefan
    Participant

    She may have also been doing her orientation flights. All virgin queens make several of these flights before their mating flight.

    April 8, 2014 at 8:00 pm #8290
    susan rudnicki
    Participant

    Yeah, I checked the nuc again the following day and saw her.

    April 9, 2014 at 9:33 am #8294
    susan rudnicki
    Participant

    Hey, Africanized Beek–why are you not listed by a known name? We are all members of this club, and I don’t know what your human name is….. Susan

    April 9, 2014 at 4:48 pm #8300
    Stefan
    Participant

    Hi Susan, sorry about the mix up. I am actually not a member of the club. I kinda just wandered in from your feed on Instagram.

    April 9, 2014 at 4:55 pm #8301
    susan rudnicki
    Participant

    Yeah? So, will you reveal your identity and where you are located? Susan

    April 9, 2014 at 7:38 pm #8304
    Stefan
    Participant

    Just updated my Profile info 🙂

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Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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About susan rudnicki

Been beekeeping almost 5 years now. Have 27 hives,(2 client hives) I work with the City of Manhattan Beach, re-homing bees in conflict with citizens. Allowed to keep bees at the Public Works yard (19 hives) in exchange for this work. I do many presentations for HoneyLove, teach bee students, rescue bees and sell honey.
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