Egg in queen cup - should I be worried?

[Busybee123]

When inspecting one of my colonies today I found an egg in a queen cup. I did not destroy the egg, but I did poke my hive tool into the side of the queen cup to gain a better view of the contents.

The colony in question was a nuc I bought about 6 weeks ago and since day one the queen (this year's queen) has been laying like crazy. When I inspected a week ago the colony still had 2 or 3 frames of foundation to draw out in the brood chamber (national containing 11 frames + dummy board) but when I looked today they had drawn out pretty much all the foundation and had produced a few queen cups, one of which contained an egg. The weather has been good over the last week and they have brought quite a lot of nectar and pollen into the brood chamber (some of which is now capped).

I gave them a super of foundation (without queen excluder for now) to try and ease the congestion and give them some more space (and Clive de Bruyn recommends this as a good way of diverting a colony from swarming).

I am just wondering what I should expect to find on my next inspection in 5-7 days.

On the subject of queen cups, Ted Hooper says...

"I would not treat them as queen cells until they contain a larva because often eggs in these cells are not allowed to develop further by the workers"

So should I be prepared to do an artificial swarm on my next inspection, or just wait and see?

I really don't want to do an AS this late in the season, and I don't actually have a spare hive at the moment - just a couple of nuc boxes.

 

[richardbees]

Busybee,

Full marks for an excellent description!

Ted Hooper (as always) is right. I'd have another look on Tuesday (with the idea to remove it if it has progressed).

richard

 

[Busybee123]

Thanks for the reply Richard.

Ok so if it has developed into a full blown queen cell remove it.

But then what?

I suppose keep an eye on them and hope they give up the idea...

The queen in this colony doesn't seem to realise that it's nearly August - she is laying like nothing I've ever seen. Every available cell has an egg in. Hopefully if they move some of the stores up into the super they will make a bit of space for her, but hopefully she'll ease off her laying a bit!

 

[richardbees]

Busy

Roughly, as a %, how much of the total frame area in the brood box is being used for brood?

 

[Busybee123]

Roughly, as a %, how much of the total frame area in the brood box is being used for brood?

Very difficult to say - I would really need to have another look, but very roughly I'd say:

Larvae & sealed brood 50%

Eggs 20%

Pollen, nectar and stores 30%

The big change from a week ago is the amount of nectar and stores has really increased a lot from a fairly low level (because of the good nectar flow). This inspection today is the first time there has been any significant amount of stores in the brood chamber.

 

[richardbees]

If there's been that noticeable increase in visible stores I'd say she is cutting down on laying. Others may disagree but I don't think you should be adding a super at this time of year.

And I bet my bottom dollar this Q cell will not have progressed by Tuesday!

 

[Busybee123]

And I bet my bottom dollar this Q cell will not have progressed by Tuesday!

I hope you're right....

Thanks.

 

[richardbees]

(yeah, an empty bet from an unknown IP doesn't mean much)

If there is a grub, it could mean they want to replace / supercede the current Q which doesn't seem likely from your description.

So, just in case it is, if there are no other eggs visible, leave it alone. If there are eggs, remove it - and check for any others.

It's late for a new colony to swarm but they've a mind of their own!

rich

 

[Busybee123]

Ok. Thanks for taking the time to reply Richard.

 

[oliver90owner]

should I be prepared to do an artificial swarm on my next inspection,

Yes, you should - but hoping you won't need to do it. Seems like possible supercedure, but, as always, you won't know if they have serious intent unless there is a larva in the cell.

If they turn out to be swarmy bees, you may want to put the queen in a nuc and arrange to requeen the main colony with a decent non-swarmy strain. That way you would not lose the the prolific laying queen and could get rid of her later and unite the splits, thereby finishing the season with a good strong colony.

RAB

 

[Tom Bick]

I found eggs in queen cups today not something that has me to worried at this stage but something that makes me think perhaps I will look a bit closer and within 7 days for my next inspection.

This is a young queen started to lay this last week and is keen to show I hope her worth and I watched as she laid 5 eggs one after another with no hesitation.

 

[Busybee123]

should I be prepared to do an artificial swarm on my next inspection,

Yes, you should - but hoping you won't need to do it. Seems like possible supercedure, but, as always, you won't know if they have serious intent unless there is a larva in the cell.

Thanks RAB, but how will I know if it's supercedure or swarming?

If there's only one charged queen cell, presumably it's supercedure, but if there's a few charged queen cells it's swarming?

 

[Busybee123]

I found eggs in queen cups today not something that has me to worried at this stage but something that makes me think perhaps I will look a bit closer and within 7 days for my next inspection.

This is a young queen started to lay this last week and is keen to show I hope her worth and I watched as she laid 5 eggs one after another with no hesitation.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I'm hoping that my queen is just a bit over zealous with her egg laying and that the workers will sort it out! Definitely have to have a close look next inspection to see what is going on. I just wish that I had thought to mark the frame so that I could go straight to it next time.

 

[Illo]

We have an almost identical situaltion, and found an egg in a queen cup this morning. There were many queen cups; this was the only one that was occupied in any way. We took it out just to be sure. There were many eggs in the surrounding cells, so I think it was just done while HM was on form in that area of the comb.

Otherwise, all was well, and we had no evidence of swarming. Perhaps a bit late in the year?

LJ

 

[Busybee123]

Otherwise, all was well, and we had no evidence of swarming. Perhaps a bit late in the year?

LJ

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I would hope so too, but it would not be the first time the bees took me by surprise...

 

[Vergilius]

Otherwise, all was well, and we had no evidence of swarming. Perhaps a bit late in the year?

What do you mean by "no evidence of swarming"?

Ben P

 

[Vergilius]

Thanks RAB, but how will I know if it's supercedure or swarming?

If there's only one charged queen cell, presumably it's supercedure, but if there's a few charged queen cells it's swarming?

Yes, pretty much. Normally, if there is only one QC, you can expect supercedure rather than swarming. Position on the comb is also relevant: some say that single Qc's in the middle of combs are supercedure.

But, as we all know, our bees have minds of their own and, just in case your bees are mad enough to be preparing to swarm at this late point in the season, prepare to do an AS next inspection.

Ben P

 

[Torq]

Do an AS asap. Breaking down queen cells on the last 2 inspections did not work for me, my best queen moved out this day lastweek. With the weather we are having over here, the first hint of a bit of heat (possibly at the end of the week) they'll be gone.

Torq

 

[Busybee123]

Yes, pretty much. Normally, if there is only one QC, you can expect supercedure rather than swarming. Position on the comb is also relevant: some say that single Qc's in the middle of combs are supercedure.

But, as we all know, our bees have minds of their own and, just in case your bees are mad enough to be preparing to swarm at this late point in the season, prepare to do an AS next inspection.

Ben P

Thanks Ben. The cup with the egg in was in the centre of a frame. However I don't understand why they would want to supercede their young prolific queen! Having said that, I would rather they superceded than swarmed.

Do an AS asap. Breaking down queen cells on the last 2 inspections did not work for me, my best queen moved out this day lastweek. With the weather we are having over here, the first hint of a bit of heat (possibly at the end of the week) they'll be gone.

Torq

Thanks for the reply Torq. I hope you managed to catch your swarm. I've not had to deal with a swarm yet (not even done an AS yet! ) so I'm understandably a bit aprehensive as to what the bees are planning to do.

 

[newportbuzz]

I had this happen about 4 weeks ago to me. i found one queen cup with an egg at the bottom of a frame.
what i did was rather than my usual inspection of 3-4 frames of brood i went through the whole box and shook smoked all suspisious frames.
i marked the frame with the cup on it(not shaken)
came back in 3 days(longest from egg seen to larve) and pulled the one frame with the cup on it. the workers had removed the egg and all was well.
so i closed up and continued my inspection routine ie box opened again in 4 days time.

my only warning would be that since you didnt cut out the cell you have to inspect before the cell could be sealed.
Otherwise it wouldnt worry me but would warrant an early inspection of the frame.

best of luck with it
tim