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irishguy

Field Bee
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
865
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Location
ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2 over wintered nucs
Firstly, i caught a large swarm 2 weeks ago and put it in a brood box, gave some frames of capped honey, empty frames and theyve filled out a fast rate. When checking 2 days ago i noticed 2 Qcs in the middle of one frame right beside each other! Checked for eggs in them and noticed an egg in one. Bees where very quiet when went in first time. YEsterday i had another quick look to see if they where building any more QCS and didnt see any. Im thinking this is a supersecdure. All frames are filled with honey and BIAS and bees on all fames so i decided to add a super with no QE. What is worrying me, if i leave them and the queen lays an egg in the other QC and both hatch, what will be the outcome!

Another question i have, i left one brood box in the shed for 2 years. It actually go covered over with building materials and forgot all about it untill i was doing a clear out. Strong smell of fermented honey from it. There was capped and uncapped honey on all frames. Top and bottom was closed of with 2 poly boards and the bottom was as youd expect, covered in honey. Im near sure i remember them saying in the bee club, these frames cant be fed to the bees because it can cause sickness or other but can they be used for anything else, or just bin them?
 
Hi Irishguy, This time of the year I never rely on supersedure. Have had two colonies with one charged QC. In both cases I tore it down. One colony was a bit crowded so I put a super on and they have not tried again - first season queen. The other colony I tore down as I want to requeen with different strain due to chalk brood and they have not produced other queen cells either. Both queens look good and are laying well. One has to recognise that they may produce emergency cells in tearing down QC, so they need to be inspected again no later than five days time as they could swarm if they produce emergency QC from 1 day old larvae. May be worth a try in your situation, but it is a judgement call.
Old fermented honey frames, I would bin them.
 
Firstly, i caught a large swarm 2 weeks ago and put it in a brood box, gave some frames of capped honey, empty frames and theyve filled out a fast rate. When checking 2 days ago i noticed 2 Qcs in the middle of one frame right beside each other! Checked for eggs in them and noticed an egg in one. Bees where very quiet when went in first time. YEsterday i had another quick look to see if they where building any more QCS and didnt see any. Im thinking this is a supersecdure. All frames are filled with honey and BIAS and bees on all fames so i decided to add a super with no QE. What is worrying me, if i leave them and the queen lays an egg in the other QC and both hatch, what will be the outcome!

Another question i have, i left one brood box in the shed for 2 years. It actually go covered over with building materials and forgot all about it untill i was doing a clear out. Strong smell of fermented honey from it. There was capped and uncapped honey on all frames. Top and bottom was closed of with 2 poly boards and the bottom was as youd expect, covered in honey. Im near sure i remember them saying in the bee club, these frames cant be fed to the bees because it can cause sickness or other but can they be used for anything else, or just bin them?

1. In a swarm with an old queen it's not unusual to see supercedure. It sounds as though any queen from the second egg will not emerge until the first has emerged and had a chance to despatch the one still in her cell.
2. The sealed frames should be ok but personally I would bin the lot.

You've been quiet for a while. How are you?
 
First.
Clip the queen and leave one cell and problem is solved. If she is still walking around when the cell is sealed it's supersedure.
If you take them down they will build more. Been there done that. They may throw a small swarm even with a failing or damaged queen.

Second.
If in doubt chuck it out.
They will clean it up but may end up with the ***** because of it. Then you'll think they have Nosema and panic.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk
 
When checking 2 days ago i noticed 2 Qcs in the middle of one frame right beside each other! Checked for eggs in them and noticed an egg in one.

I only call them queen cells if they contain a larvae. Lots of queen cups have eggs in them which come to nothing.
 
When checking 2 days ago i noticed 2 Qcs in the middle of one frame right beside each other! Checked for eggs in them and noticed an egg in one.

I only call them queen cells if they contain a larvae. Lots of queen cups have eggs in them which come to nothing.
 
1. In a swarm with an old queen it's not unusual to see supercedure. It sounds as though any queen from the second egg will not emerge until the first has emerged and had a chance to despatch the one still in her cell.
2. The sealed frames should be ok but personally I would bin the lot.

You've been quiet for a while. How are you?


All was OK. I knocked down the cells and all good.

As for me, ive been working like a donkey these last few years with my business in construction. Popped in here once or twice but didn't ask any questions because had enough to deal with with work. Not many hives and keeping it this way for the foreseeable future! Haven't treated my bees since ive last posted here and don't intend to this year either.
 

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