# How long before a new Queen starts laying

**URL:** <https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/how-long-before-a-new-queen-starts-laying/10700>\
**Category:** Beekeeping - Basics\
**Created:** [April 8, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/how-long-before-a-new-queen-starts-laying/10700 "2017-04-08T02:02:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Freebz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/freebz/32/1665_2.png) [@Freebz](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Freebz)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/how-long-before-a-new-queen-starts-laying/10700/1 "2017-04-08T02:02:51Z")

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So I had to work away for the last few weeks and entrusted my hive to a local beek. Apparently he decided not to bother looking in on it and subsequently on my return I found 6-8 hatched Queen cells and no grubs, little capped brood and a heap of capped drone cells.  
I’m hoping there is a new Queen in there somewhere but couldn’t find her, just wondering how long it should take a new Queen to start laying and where to go from here

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**Author:** ![JeffH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/jeffh/32/7192_2.png) [@JeffH](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/JeffH)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 5:06am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/how-long-before-a-new-queen-starts-laying/10700/2 "2017-04-08T05:06:05Z")

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If the drone brood is in worker comb, chances are you have a laying worker. You may still have a lot of unhatched drones in drone comb because they are about 4 days slower than workers at hatching. All of your workers have probably hatched by now. If you don’t have drone larvae in worker comb, I would give it another 7-10 days, then take a look for new eggs or even young larvae. Look in the area where the most bees are. Good luck with that, cheers

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**Author:** ![Freebz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/freebz/32/1665_2.png) [@Freebz](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Freebz)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 5:24am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/how-long-before-a-new-queen-starts-laying/10700/3 "2017-04-08T05:24:33Z")

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Thanks Jeff  
The capped drones are all in drone comb so I will wait and check in a week.

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**Author:** ![Anon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@Anon](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Anon)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/how-long-before-a-new-queen-starts-laying/10700/4 "2017-04-08T12:21:04Z")

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[http://www.thebeeyard.org/queen-rearing-calendar/](http://www.thebeeyard.org/queen-rearing-calendar/)