Egg in queen cup

[Do224]

If you find an egg in a queen cup (I found two actually), do you treat it as swarm preparations or are they possibly just kidding?

Rightly or wrongly I tore them both down.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just take it as fair warning of their intentions

 

[Swarm]

If you find an egg in a queen cup (I found two actually), do you treat it as swarm preparations or are they possibly just kidding?

Rightly or wrongly I tore them both down.

Supposedly unless it's charged, it's just a cup. I would definitely keep a very close eye on them.

 

[Do224]

I gave them a super to go at in the meantime.

I’ll check again in 5 days I think. I didn’t shake bees off and have a thorough look so it’s entirely possible I missed another cup with an egg. Am I right in thinking that if there was another one and they did decide to use it then they can’t cap it for 5 days?

 

[hemo]

If just eggs in a cup then they may remove them, might be worth Demereeing them straight away to nip any other ideas in the bud .

 

[hemo]

If they decide to go with swarming then 5- 6 days from egg to sealed, it all depends when they first feed the hatched egg.
You will have to keep an eye on them and check the progress of those cups in to QC's with RJ fed larvae.

 

[Do224]

If just eggs in a cup then they may remove them, might be worth Demereeing them straight away to nip any other ideas in the bud .

I gave them a second bb three weeks ago. In retrospect perhaps I should have supered them instead so I could be doing a demaree now. Don’t think I want to do my first demaree on a double brood colony…plus they would have to be already working one or two supers before a demaree would be viable wouldnt they?

 

[hemo]

One can Demeree a double brood (I do if needs be) , a super may give bees space but not laying space.
Go back in asap and look to see if any QC's have been built , if none Demeree them . If QC's are seen then one will have to AS them.

 

[hemo]

I Demeree double brood with three or four supers.

 

[Do224]

I Demeree double brood with three or four supers.

They had no supers on at all until today….would it really work demareeing them?

 

[hemo]

Why not ?
It depends how well you know your bees and their past history to read what they are up to.

If they haven't swarmed and no QC's then Demeree splits them, keeping the colony as one and improving/keeping any honey crop /forage ticking along.
If one can't get all the brood in to the Demeree then at a least make sure all the open brood is moved up. The double brood will become much more spacious and they should settle down .

Doing nothing invites possible swarming preps at this stage if no QC's have been made.

 

[Do224]

Why not ?

I’ve never done a demaree but all the advice I’ve seen says they should be working a couple of supers before it can be done successfully

 

[hemo]

I’ve never done a demaree but all the advice I’ve seen says they should be working a couple of supers before it can be done successfully

No two colonies are the same, one won't know until one tries the manipulation.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you find an egg in a queen cup (I found two actually), do you treat it as swarm preparations or are they possibly just kidding?

Rightly or wrongly I tore them both down.

Egg in queen cup, look in again three days later.
Queen cup with royal jelly is a queen cell.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’ve never done a demaree but all the advice I’ve seen says they should be working a couple of supers before it can be done successfully

It will work with one super especially if you use one of JBMs Demaree boards.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I’ve never done a demaree but all the advice I’ve seen says they should be working a couple of supers before it can be done successfully

you've obviously been reading the wrong 'advice' it's handy to start a Demaree when there are multiple supers on, especially if you are doing it to make increase but a single shallow works fine. if there were no supers on when a Demaree was being contemplated I'd be pretty surprised to be honest, as you shouldn't need to Demaree until the colony is on seven (if it's a big colony) to nine frames of brood, and by that time they should be well into the first if not second super.
And if there isn't a super on, well put one on when you do the Demaree.
Part of a successful Demaree is thinking whilst beekeeping - working with the bees. If there are no supers on, are you really reading the bees or just Demareeing to avoid swarming when they weren't even near to preparing to swarm.

 

[Do224]

you've obviously been reading the wrong 'advice'

This was the advice given by Lawrence on his livestream a couple of days ago. It’s a difficult one because I rate both him and you as having good advice . Guess I’ll just have to experiment for myself!

Maybe you should go on his channel as an interview guest?? I’ve heard him mention you in at least one video so presume you know each other…I’d watch it!

 

[Sutty]

I had a swarm go on queen "cups" charged with just an egg. However there were very extenuating circumstances!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

This was the advice given by Lawrence on his livestream a couple of days ago

Here's a successful Demaree I did on one of the Garn Cottage hives a few years ago, done a few on single supers since then as well.

 

[Do224]

View attachment 39940
Here's a successful Demaree I did on one of the Garn Cottage hives a few years ago, done a few on single supers since then as well.

I’ll be giving it a go