# Larvae in Queen cell **URL:** \ **Category:** Beekeeping - Basics\ **Created:** [July 9, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248 "2024-07-09T02:30:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NikkiJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ccd318/32.png) [@NikkiJ](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/NikkiJ)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248/1 "2024-07-09T02:30:44Z")
17 days ago I noticed a Queen cell with larvae present in it. Today I attempted a hive inspection and saw no eggs, and a very small amount of brood. The hive was mostly honey and nectar. If a new Queen was born, how long should I wait until I see eggs? Just not sure if I should order a new Queen or not. I only have 1 hive so I can’t get resources from elsewhere to help. So should I wait for a possible new Queen to start laying, or order a new Queen? ---
**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:** [July 9, 2024, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248/2 "2024-07-09T20:59:01Z")
Hi Nikki, welcome to the forum. To answer your first question: After about 2 weeks from when the queen emerges, we should start seeing eggs. After 3 weeks we should be seeing sealed brood. When we see sealed worker brood, then we know that the queen got successfully mated. For your second question: Definitely wait before ordering a new queen. Even if the new queen fails, I’d give the colony a frame of brood in all stages before ordering a new queen, on account that the colony could reject her. If a colony starts building emergency queens, that would be a green light in my view for introducing a new queen. Do that while tearing all the emergency cells down. FWIW, I let my colonies continue with emergency cells. ---
**Author:** ![NikkiJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ccd318/32.png) [@NikkiJ](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/NikkiJ)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248/3 "2024-07-11T01:29:38Z")
Thanks Jeff! I will plan on waiting a couple more weeks before I check again for eggs and then will look again a week later for capped brood. Follow up question though - how long can a colony survive without a Queen? ---
**Author:** ![Dawn\_SD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/dawn_sd/32/15954_2.png) [@Dawn\_SD](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Dawn_SD)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248/4 "2024-07-11T02:14:41Z")
Hello and welcome to the Flow forum. I am obviously not @JeffH 😊 > [@NikkiJ](#): > > Follow up question though - how long can a colony survive without a Queen? Like all things in beekeeping, it depends… 🤣 The straight answer is usually about 6-8 weeks. If there is no queen, and they can’t make a new one, most adult bees will live about 6 weeks, but they take about 21 days to go from egg to emerging into an adult. So it is a bit complicated by the life cycle, and the timing of the queen’s departure. The queen only takes 16-18 days to emerge - she has a faster development cycle. I wouldn’t wait to see capped brood. If you see uncapped larvae in an orderly pattern, you likely have a laying queen. Laying workers are usually a bit more disorganized in their brood patterns ---
**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:** [July 11, 2024, 3:03am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248/5 "2024-07-11T03:03:48Z")
You’re welcome Nikki. I agree with Dawn’s answer. I would prefer to wait the whole 3 weeks, on account that I found young queens to be vulnerable to balling (killing) by the colony. Therefore I like to keep my early inspections brief. I lift the frame with the most activity partly out, then as soon as I see evidence of a successfully mated queen, I quickly close the hive back up again. If I don’t see evidence, like yesterday for example, I slip in a frame of brood in all stages, for the colony to raise a new one. In my case yesterday, I found a frame nearly full of sealed brood, with young brood & eggs that replaced recently emerged bees. I was happy with that, on account that a full frame of brood will add 3 frames of young bees to the colony of mostly older bees. I placed a tag on the hive, 10th of the 7th. Then I’ll know to check on the 10th of next month for a new queen. The extra week is on account that the queen hasn’t emerged. ---
**Author:** ![NikkiJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ccd318/32.png) [@NikkiJ](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/NikkiJ)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248/6 "2024-07-15T21:07:04Z")
Thank you both for taking the time to answer my questions! I have a reminder set on my calendar to check on the third week. And just crossing my fingers in the meantime. 🙂 ---
**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:** [July 15, 2024, 9:36pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/larvae-in-queen-cell/37248/7 "2024-07-15T21:36:28Z")
You’re welcome Nikki, I put 2 reminders out myself yesterday. Two nucleus hives were very cranky. So I killed the queens, then swapped the brood for brood from placid hives for the colonies to make new queens with.