A watch is not a passive countdown - it asks you to look at specific things at specific windows, and what you record recalibrates the clock.
When a check window arrives:
- 1
Open the Queen Watch card and tap Record on the due check
The card shows "Due now" with the window dates; tapping Record opens the guided sheet, which says exactly what to look for - and what to leave alone.
Hive #12
OverviewLogsMoreQ24Queen Watch — active
Swarmed · started Aug 6
Mating-flight window (Q20–Q28) — keep visits short, afternoons free.
Due now: New-brood check — Aug 28–Sep 1
RecordNext: Final brood check · Sep 9–Sep 13
- 2
Record what you saw
Pick the finding: eggs, young or older larvae, capped worker brood, no eggs - a couple of taps. Eggs seen means she laid within ~3 days; young larvae push NELD back ~6.
New-brood check
Hive #12 · window Aug 28–Sep 1
Q24Look for eggs or larvae from the new queen. Do not disturb before the window.
What did you find?
Eggs (standing, 1 per cell)
Young larvae (in royal jelly)
Capped WORKER brood
No eggs at all
Checked on
Aug 30, 2026Save result - 3
Let the sheet close the loop
If the finding proves the cycle is on track (or off it), the sheet offers the right next step instead of leaving you to guess.
Queen Watch actions
Mark succeeded (queen confirmed)
Laying confirmed - records your QDT
Restart cycle (new attempt)
New cell or queen - history kept
Mark failed (close out)
Offers Close & combine and a queen expense
Change start date
Timeline recomputed
Cancel watch (started by mistake)
No effect on success stats
Result
The timeline updates. Confirming eggs sets NELD (back-calculated from the youngest brood you saw) and switches the clock to W-days.
The four ways a watch ends
- Succeeded - laying is confirmed and the first round of worker brood is capped (near W9). The cycle records its QDT and feeds your analytics.
- Restarted - the cell failed or the virgin was lost, and you gave the colony a new cell or queen. History is kept; a fresh clock starts.
- Failed - the colony could not requeen. The closeout offers a combine flow (merge the bees into another hive, which closes the watch and cleans up its field jobs) and a requeen-expense prompt so the cost lands in your financials.
- Cancelled - started by mistake. Cancelling removes the watch without polluting your success-rate stats.
Tip
Checked ten hives in one yard visit? Use the bulk complete action to log the same check outcome across several watches at once.
Analytics rolls every closed cycle into success rates by trigger, average and median QDT, and queen spend (including what failed cycles cost). The season summary report includes a queen-transition outcomes section, and sustainability scoring uses your requeen self-sufficiency.
Was this helpful?
Still stuck? Contact support.