>  Should the queen be allowed to lay for 1, 2, or 3 weeks, or should she
be caged immediately after mating?

I know you are asking what is best for the queen but if you do not allow
her to lay how would you know she was successfully mated? If she is kept
long enough to produce some capped brood you know she is not a drone layer.
Queens can start and stop laying so caging her after a laying period would
do no harm if they couldn't start and stop bees would never be able to
winter over in northern areas. I have never caged one immediately after her
nuptial flight because I need to see eggs to know she had that flight. Then
if possible I like to wait two weeks before giving her a big job just to be
sure she is a good layer. Easier to find her in a nuc that five or six
boxes if things do not pan out.

We had 8 days of rain this last week I had a bunch of queens hatch twos
days before the rain started. I haven't looked at them yet because the rain
would have delayed their flight for over a week, they where
cooped-up virgins because of weather.

Karen T-K

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