How long ago did it swarm? Generally, the primary swarm is about the time the first queen cells are capped so add eight (8) days for the new queen to emerge, add another five (5) for her to mature enough for mating flights, add two (2) or three (3) days for mating flights, add another five (5) days to get to egg-laying mode and add a couple of days more to get the egg laying routine down. Do the math: 8+5+3+5+2 = 23. That’s close to three (3) weeks before factoring in weather events that may delay mating flights. It is not unusually to go three (3) full weeks, 21 days, even when we install queen cells the day before emerging before we see any eggs. Usually if the hive acts queen-right, they probably are. If they are queen-less after two (2) weeks. they will let you know.
