Hive Alive
So we installed the new queen. Went back a week later and she was alive and well. This past week, which would have been two weeks after initial installation of the queen in the queen cage, we went back in to see if she is laying eggs. Once an egg is laid it takes about 21 days for a worker bee to hatch, a queen 16 days and a drone 24 days. The average life of a worker bee is 5 to 6 weeks during active season and 4 to 6 months for overwintering worker bees. So I need my queen to lay eggs quickly and for those eggs to hatch quickly before there are no workers to keep the hive. Because I didn't notice earlier that my queen had stopped producing my time line is very tight. Good News on this weeks inspection we see that she is laying eggs and some are already capped which means they are 9 days old. Again the strength of the hive is in numbers so my time line is tight to get this next generation working. Then they will raise the overwintering bees that will live for 4 to 6 months.