Advise on Queen Cells

[Udy2peu]

Hi everyone. I am after a bit of advise. I have successfully managed to graft 7 queen cell on Sat the 16th of May. According to the calendar I follow, i need to moved them into the mating nucs today. I opened the hive, got the cells out, which unfortunately were surrounded by burr comb; cut the comb around to expose the cells, which went well. As i was moving the cells around i could feel the queen inside dropping, as it felt like she was loose inside. I opened one cell to check and the pupae inside was white with the eyes started to turn brown. I put every single cell in my mating nucs, so hopefully they will emerge by the end of this week..

The question i have: is it normal for the pupae to slide inside the cell? Could have i caused any damage to it? Also as i was removing the comb around the cells, i noticed that the tip of the cell has partially been removed, but not exposing the pupae inside. Any reason for concern?

Thank you

 

[Ian123]

You need to handle cells as carefully as possible and yes they can rattle around but it’s best not to try! Will you have caused damage, most likely.

 

[jeff33]

I removed some burr comb today as well but I usually wait until day 14 to do it. Cells were caged and all going into mating nucs tomorrow. I have found that putting them too early is risky if the bees don't cluster on them. On my last batch I lost 3 QCs as the bees clustered in the food compartment rather than the frames and cell.