Caught out by weather

[Poly Hive]

Got a nasty surprise today, 8 cells buried in amongst a comb full of honey,which the we darlings built around the cell plugs, honey so ripe I couldn't tell which plug had a cell on it, and from 8 rescued 2.

The super on top was very near full, and two days ago it was half empty, and as I am working comb honey I really should have supered them two days ago.

Ah the joys of the learning curve eh?

PH

 

[MJBee]

Yes PH the learning curve just goes on and on.
From your experience how rigid is the 8 days from egg to sealed queen cell? The reason I ask is I confined my mother queen in a Jenter cage for exactly 24 hours and she obliged by filling all the cups. on day 8 I had some sealed and some with larvae swimming in royal jelly. By day 9 all but one were capped, and that last one was capped on day 10!
Your observations appreciated. Mike

 

[Poly Hive]

What can I say, it's in my sig line after all and so on every post which the rule bashers failed miserably to spot, or maybe its too subtle.

"Bees do nothing invariably."

There will always be variation.

PH

 

[Heather]

I'll second that.
I had a queen due to emerge June 24th/25th - so (wrongly, I know) I opened the hive today July 1st- but it was 6am so not likely to be flying high. and I needed to check no more cells made - and there she was peeping out of the end of her cell. She was 5 days late - I shut down quick - at least I know the day of her emergence

 

[MJBee]

Well I've put the first and last sealed cells in hair-roller cages in my incubator which is running at a steady 35C and will wait and see what happens.
Mike