Lasius niger advice please

[PixieXV]

I found a lasius niger queen on the 2nd August and she laid some eggs which still haven't hatched, the water has run out and I don't know what to do. I've tried attaching another tube but she doesn't want to move. She is still standing over her eggs but shouldn't they have hatched by now? I found her on holiday and it was a hot, bumpy 5 hour drive home, I'm worried that her eggs might be dead. Please can anyone help?

[Hawkeye]

I found a lasius niger queen on the 2nd August and she laid some eggs which still haven't hatched, the water has run out and I don't know what to do. I've tried attaching another tube but she doesn't want to move. She is still standing over her eggs but shouldn't they have hatched by now? I found her on holiday and it was a hot, bumpy 5 hour drive home, I'm worried that her eggs might be dead. Please can anyone help?

What's the status now?

[PixieXV]

She has moved her eggs to a new tube with water and another, more experienced, ant keeper has told me they will hatch after Winter. Fingers crossed.

[Hawkeye]

She has moved her eggs to a new tube with water and another, more experienced, ant keeper has told me they will hatch after Winter. Fingers crossed.

Pray tell, who was the mysterious experienced ant keeper?

[Formicarufa]

Is the queen in the dark
And how often do you check on her

[PixieXV]

Yes, she is in the dark. I check every 2-3 weeks. We have had a nice warm spell and still nothing.

[SkeleAnt]

Is it possible that even though she's laying, the eggs aren't fertilized?

[PixieXV]

I don't know, is that a thing that can happen? She has lost her wings so I thought that meant she was ready...

[SkeleAnt]

Wing loss isn't a guaranteed sign that your queen is fertilized, just like wing retention isn't a guaranteed sign a queen isn't fertilized. Queen ants still have eggs inside them whether they're fertilized or not, and they can still lay some of those eggs regardless, but I don't think they lay all that many if there's nothing to work with.

How many eggs are there? It's May now, which means the eggs haven't hatched for almost 9 months. Antkeepers.com says the lasius niger cycle from egg to adult worker is 8-9 weeks. Since their flights can happen from August into September, they might sometimes over-winter their larvae (someone mentioned that in this thread here:https://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?t=4986), but the eggs have hatched by then.

After this much time, your queen's eggs should be at the larva stage if nothing else, taking into account that she and her brood would have slowed down over winter.

Referencing some other ant keepers on youtube, their lasius niger queens had larvae and even some pupae after just a month. So in my non-expert opinion, your queen's eggs aren't fertilized, she's stressed out and is actually eating her eggs and laying new ones (which would mean the eggs she has now aren't the ones she laid back in August), or she's not a lasius niger and might have different time tables for her worker's life cycle. I've never heard of an ant with a 9 month egg stage, though. The queen would never survive that long.

Here's the antkeepers.com page for reference: https://www.antkeepers.com/ant-species/lasius-niger/

[PixieXV]

This would make sense. Poor Antwanette I've been wondering if it would be kinder to bury her tube open ended in the garden...