HokkaidoHachi · Hokkaido, JP · Queens · Jun 2, 2026

Made a walk-away split, 21 days later still no eggs — give up on the new queen?

Did a walk-away split on June 10. Saw queen cells on day 5, saw them emerge around day 16. Today is day 21 and I still don't see eggs. Weather has been mixed, lots of rain. Mating flight problems?

#queen#split#mating

▲ 14 votes 💬 3 replies ✅ Solved

3 replies

CorkBeeRon · Jun 2, 2026 · ✅ Accepted answer

Bad weather extends the mating window — give her another 7–10 days. A virgin needs warm dry afternoons. If conditions were poor, the timeline slips.

ImkerinLena · Jun 2, 2026

Check for laying workers at day 30 if still no eggs (multiple eggs per cell, scattered pattern). If you see those, requeen fast or combine with another colony — laying workers are very hard to fix.

LavenderSophie · Jun 2, 2026

I had one queen take 28 days last year because of two weeks of solid rain. She turned into the best layer in my apiary. Patience.

Join 12,000+ beekeepers logging hives, asking questions, and mapping forage.

Get the Beekeeping Community app

Made a walk-away split, 21 days later still no eggs — give up on the new queen?

Newspaper combine didn't work — three days on and the bees haven't chewed through, what did I do wrong?

Only two small patches of brood left at 60°N — is my queen shutting down for winter or failing?

Why does the queen excluder have to come off for winter? (asking before I forget it's on)

I united my two weakest colonies yesterday and I regret nothing

Shrinking a struggling colony into a 5-frame nuc for winter — anyone run double nucs over a strong colony?

Is it genuinely too late to requeen this far north, or do I buy a mated queen and squeak it in?