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Author Topic: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?  (Read 7562 times)

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Offline Jen

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Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« on: April 18, 2022, 03:15:06 pm »
I have a hive with no eggs in all three boxes, but there is about 4-5+ day larvae. By today its is prob 6 day old larvae. Can the bees make a queen out of 6 day old larvae?
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Offline iddee

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2022, 05:30:29 pm »
Nooo.. 4 day max, then she will be inferior and replaced shortly.
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2022, 07:58:22 pm »
Agreed.  Better get them some eggs or a queen before you get laying workers. 
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2022, 11:01:30 pm »
No need to worry about a laying worker until the brood is gone.  If you have other colonies with eggs you could share the wealth by adding a frame with eggs with the queenless colony.  For best quality queens it's critical that the nurse bees be able to provide royal jelly to 1-2 day old larvae.
https://www.beeculture.com/royal-jelly-worker-bee-produced-protein-rich-mothers-milk/
https://extension.psu.edu/an-introduction-to-queen-honey-bee-development#:~:text=With%20a%20total%20of%20about,try%20to%20do%20the%20same.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2022, 12:26:19 am »
And that's just what I did today is move a frame of eggs over to queenless colony.

Isn't it cool.. how after a few years of beekeeping the bees somehow get a message over to you when something isn't balanced in the hive.. and they need help? I was going to work on cranky hive yesterday but for some reason, for no apparent reason, I walked over to my big hive just in the knick of time. This big hive is soo peaceful, and the queen was into her 4th year. She's still in the hive, but just ran out of gas. So bees are going to let a new queen dispatch the old queen. I like it when the bees make their own decisions  :)
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2022, 10:49:25 am »
Quote from: Jen on April 19, 2022, 12:26:19 am
And that's just what I did today is move a frame of eggs over to queenless colony.

 So bees are going to let a new queen dispatch the old queen. I like it when the bees make their own decisions  :)
Are you hoping the hive will make supercedure cells? You can do that option.  What is to keep the old queen from killing the developing queen(s)? 
Also, is this a colony you hope to get a honey harvest from?  I don't know about the nectar flow in your area, but here it would be different.  By the time the colony reared a new queen, it mated, and started laying again, the main nectar flow would only have a couple weeks left.  I would rather purchase a mated queen and do away with the old. Then I wouldn't lose weeks of honey harvest.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2022, 07:01:26 pm »
Put the old queen in a bit of alcohol and keep her on the mantle, or order a package. That hive is likely dead otherwise.
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“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 Zweefer

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2022, 10:26:03 pm »
 :agree:
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Offline Zweefer

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Re: Do Bees Have To Have An Egg To Make A Queen?
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2022, 12:44:09 am »
As we have moved in a different direction, I have split the conversation to a new topic, which can be found here.
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Keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.
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