Chris, many thanks for your two reply's, yes the weather for the next week or so is very good here also. If she does not mate, and starts laying drones then there is no option but to combine the two hives for the winter and start again in spring.
When did you see queen cells?Cable_Fairy wrote: ↑10 Sep 2020, 17:41Chris, many thanks for your two reply's, yes the weather for the next week or so is very good here also. If she does not mate, and starts laying drones then there is no option but to combine the two hives for the winter and start again in spring.
I count forward 3 weeks from "hatch" day and check for eggs. If no eggs, then in my view there won't be. However, sometimes the patch can be small, so can be missed, give it another week and you'll see grubs.
Only then consider it a failure. If after 4 weeks from hatch date, no brood.
Good luck with your mating, I suspect she'll be mated quickly and well.