Curious Queen Cell

[StripeyB]

Hiya I'm a newbie (beekeeping for just a year) and am in a quandary.
This year my red queen swarmed. All the signs were there. Full hive, 5 or 6 queen cells all capped - so I knew it was just a matter of time. Luckily I managed to catch the swarm and re home and am now the proud baby sitter of two hives.
This past couple of week I have been using the drone comb practice to reduce Varroa. I have 14x12 brood boxes. Last Monday I took the super frame out of the brood box, cut away the drone comb ( I froze it and fed it to the birds) and put the super frame back in the super. There were some capped cells but I assumed these would hatch and the girls would clean the cells and use them for stores again.
Today I removed the top super for honey extraction and thought I'd check the second super to see how full it was. Imagine how surprised I was to find a QC capped on the frame I had added last week. I quickly checked the brood box. No queen cells. A couple of play cups but that is all.
So ( and here I'm thinking I may have made a big mistake) I removed the QC only to discover an almost fully formed bee. Still in the ' white ' stage.
Has anyone else experienced this? Do you think it's an early indication they're going to swarm again?
Sorry for waffling x

 

[pargyle]

Hiya I'm a newbie (beekeeping for just a year) and am in a quandary.
This year my red queen swarmed. All the signs were there. Full hive, 5 or 6 queen cells all capped - so I knew it was just a matter of time. Luckily I managed to catch the swarm and re home and am now the proud baby sitter of two hives.
This past couple of week I have been using the drone comb practice to reduce Varroa. I have 14x12 brood boxes. Last Monday I took the super frame out of the brood box, cut away the drone comb ( I froze it and fed it to the birds) and put the super frame back in the super. There were some capped cells but I assumed these would hatch and the girls would clean the cells and use them for stores again.
Today I removed the top super for honey extraction and thought I'd check the second super to see how full it was. Imagine how surprised I was to find a QC capped on the frame I had added last week. I quickly checked the brood box. No queen cells. A couple of play cups but that is all.
So ( and here I'm thinking I may have made a big mistake) I removed the QC only to discover an almost fully formed bee. Still in the ' white ' stage.
Has anyone else experienced this? Do you think it's an early indication they're going to swarm again?
Sorry for waffling x

Just one queen cell ? Where was it on the frame - middle or bottom ?

Look up supercedure ....

 

[kazmcc]

This is a great little booklet - stolen from a recent thread

http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf

 

[enrico]

You fail to mention if you are using a QE or not!
E

 

[StripeyB]

oops yes I am. Didn't make it clear, the super frame was in the brood box and I was aware it had capped worker brood when I returned it to the honey super. Definitely no QC though.

 

[pargyle]

oops yes I am. Didn't make it clear, the super frame was in the brood box and I was aware it had capped worker brood when I returned it to the honey super. Definitely no QC though.

Still not enough information ....

Why was the super frame in the brood box and having capped brood in it why move it in to the super ? Have you got eggs and larvae currently in the brood box and is it a good laying pattern ? Bees don't usually build queen cells and let them develop unless they have a reason and there's only two reasons - swarm or supercedure ...

 

[Nige.Coll]

How many drawn frames are in the brood box of the hive that has made the queen cell ?

Why put a frame you were using for drone kulling into a super not back in the brood box ? ( it smells like a brood frame )
You re using a QE so they must have moved an egg up into the frame you put into the super as you said all brood was sealed on the frame.

I've had an AS try to swarm again due to lack of space for the queen to lay as they were slow drawing comb. Supers were being drawn and filled though.
I cheated and stole a couple of frames from the parent colony after they had settled.
One thing i have learned is that a proper swarm draws comb a lot faster than an AS.


bees are lazy they rarely do things for chits and giggles normally a reason.

 

[dclewis]

Sounds like you have effectively done a partial demaree ie moved brood away from the Queen and so if there were young larvae or eggs in the super frame when it was moved into a super above the QX, the absence of the Q in the super has provoked them to start queen rearing in the super.

 

[oliver90owner]

On the money, I reckon, DCL.

We are only guessing whether this is the fresh queen or the old one.

'This year' tells us not a lot. Dates are important. Age of queen is important if this is the new one.

Seems to me that this frame may have come from a super but was now a shallow brood frame put into a super.

Among other things, it might be good to actually know the horizontal displacement of the shallow of brood in relation to the brood nest, as that may have a bearing on any sensible diagnosis.

 

[StripeyB]

Thanks dclewis yes I'm certain this was my error!!! At the start of the season last years Q ( she's only 1 year old) had laid eggs in a couple of super frames ( I left 11 frames of honey on for winter stores so obviously removed the QX over winter) fellow bee keepers said just add the QX in spring, the workers will clean the comb once hatched and return it to being honey storage.
Maybe next time I try Varroa cull I'll place the super frame in position 6 or 7 when returning to the super with brood, rather than the end.
It's all a learning curve!!! No other QC so I'm not going to panic ��

 

[drex]

But best decide what you are going to do with this QC. After all it is above a QX at the moment.

 

[oliver90owner]

rather than the end.

Says it all, or probably at least enough.

There are so many warnings about splitting brood in all the better beekeeping books that one is surprisec that those warnings are not heeded.