The hardest part of queen work is remembering when to look again. Spot a queen cup or cell, log the stage, and ColonyTrack runs the real queen-development clock for you, all the way to the day you should open up and check for eggs. No guessing, no AI. Just the biology, on your dates.
Get the AppA queen cup is normal year round. The moment one is charged, or a cell is capped, the clock matters and it is easy to lose track of in a busy apiary. ColonyTrack holds that countdown for you and surfaces the single next action when it is due.
Log what you see. The app does the date math and tells you when to come back.
Charged cup, capped cell, or already emerged. Tell the app what you saw and it starts the right clock from that point.
A capped cell projects forward to when the virgin should emerge, then the days she spends maturing before her mating flights. The app keeps the hive closed in your plan through that window, so you do not crack it open too early.
"Check for eggs around June 18." One clear instruction with a date, instead of a pile of notes to re-read with gloves on. Confirm eggs and the hive is marked queenright.
These are the rough biological windows the engine works from. They shift with temperature and weather, which is why the app counts from the date you logged, not a generic calendar.
A long stretch with the hive closed is normal and correct here. Opening too early to check on her is how a virgin gets set back. The engine's whole job is to hold that window for you and surface the one date that matters: when to look for eggs.
However a hive gets its next queen, the same engine tracks it.
The countdown is free for every beekeeper. Upgrade to Pro and ColonyTrack also sends a push the moment a window is about to open, so the check happens even when the calendar slips.
A queen cup is the small starter structure: empty, or charged with an egg or larva but still unsealed. It becomes a queen cell once the bees seal it into the capped, peanut-shaped cell hanging on the comb. Empty cups are normal year round; a charged cup or a capped cell is what starts the clock.
About 8 days. A queen cell is capped around day 8 of development and the virgin emerges around day 16 from the egg, so roughly a week after you see it capped, give or take with temperature.
She does not mate the day she emerges. Expect several days of maturing and orientation flights, then mating flights usually around 5 to 7 days after emergence, then a few more days before she lays. From a capped cell, eggs typically appear within two to three weeks, weather permitting.