>       Tim Peters wrote.
>        What are your considered opinions?
>
>        Do I have a virgin?
>
>        If so, what should I do now? Wait for supercedure? or send for
>        another queen? Should I wait awhile longer and see what develops?
>        I don't want to wait too long, as Fall is upon us up here.
 
IMHO you do have a virgin, especially when you say how small she was. Size
is really not a factor, but a laying queen will be longer in the abdomen,
and only when she has been laying.
        There is no point in waiting. If she was in her original hive there
would be a possibility she would go out to mate, but that is not the case.
From my experience one she has been 'taken' then she won't develop.
        This is symptomatic of a breeder who works from numbers. This date
they emerge, this date they mate, this date they will be ready. This
approach is fine until the weather fouls up, or until that virgin decides
that her time hasn't come. Then of course you get an unmated virgin, or
worse an incompete mating. My advice, don't 'push' your breeder let him take
his time, to give you well mated queens.
 
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