How many queen cells do you leave and why?

[MuswellMetro]

Leave only one but not a sealed one and make sure you can see it contains a larva.

Many cells are duds, leaving an uncertain one makes for an uncertain outcome.

agree, I leave an unsealed one

and perhaps the largest they are covering and looking after as an insurance in a poly nuc

 

[tonybloke]

I leave one, tried leaving two in a nuc and a swarm issued ( captured and laying well)

 

[RosieMc]

I left one once - it was perfect too. Fat and plump, well sealed all the way round. No evidence of being re-sealed. In the middle of the frame too. I waited, and waited. Two weeks later I was still waiting. Nothing happened. I thought perhaps the cold weather was natures way of delaying the developing Q from hatching. After three weeks I broke open the cell only to find it empty.

No wonder the workers were so bad tempered. I will not make the same assumption again. Its at least two in differeing stages of development for me from now on.

 

[george]

One every time .
Leaving two for 'insurance' is pointless , the first one (possibly)leaves in a cast and the colony size is reduced further . There is still no guarantee the second cell will mate successfully so what have you gained ?
If you want to leave two , split it into two nucs and then make a decision once they have both mated and or failed to mate .
G

 

[stilllearning]

i always leave one , unsealed so you can at least have a look in it to make sure its ok. But i think you'll find in most cases if you just put in one then the bees will raise more off the eggs in the frame which usually there are, which probably accounts for the reason why sometimes the queen takes an age to mate, because she hasn't come out of the original cell you had put in

 

[Chris B]

If sealed cells I leave 1 only.

However, it's worth remembering the bees will make more if they still have the opportunity i.e. young larvae or eggs, so it's best not to leave any sealed QC's at all if the colony is in this early stage. Safe approach is therefore:
Week 1: destroy all sealed QC's.
Week 2: destroy all remaining QC's except the best one.

 

[Mike a]

I try and find two cells at different stages of development with big fat grubs and a good supply of royal jelly.

 

[Torq]

You will all think i'm mad but i left 6 capped Q cells in one hive after destroying around 10. The colony is Q- and they were always an angry bunch so i'm not worried that some of them may swarm. They should have emerged yesterday or today and with the bad weather here possibly they'll all stay in and have a battle royale for supremacy.

 

[djg]

Torq,

Gentle reminder - this is a "Beekeeping" Forum, not a "Bee-Distribution" Forum.

Consider that squirting up to 5 swarm/casts of "angry" bees into the gene-pool of your local bee population may not make you many friends.

 

[Mamahilz]

Ok. so my colony swarmed, my new queen has emerged (I haven't seen her yet) but i now have 3 uncapped Q cells on the side of a comb- do i destroy them or let the bees decide?

 

[Chris Luck]

I find it totally incredible when I read some of the comments on here, is it something in the water?

I reiterate, I make no inspections therefore I leave all QC's, allow the bees to swarm, and let the bees sort it out. Remarkably they do and I rarely have a Virgin queen that doesn't make it, (one last year and one this year), which is far better than the supposed average of a 10 to 20% failure.

From my earlier post.

I rarely have any casts, two last year and none this year AFAIK and I do have rather a lot of colonies so that rather throws that one out of the window as far as I'm concerned.

Once again it seems my bees "break the rules", bless them.

Chris

 

[susbees]

I find it totally incredible when I read some of the comments on here, is it something in the water?

I reiterate, I make no inspections therefore I leave all QC's, allow the bees to swarm, and let the bees sort it out. Remarkably they do and I rarely have a Virgin queen that doesn't make it, (one last year and one this year), which is far better than the supposed average of a 10 to 20% failure.

From my earlier post.

I rarely have any casts, two last year and none this year AFAIK and I do have rather a lot of colonies so that rather throws that one out of the window as far as I'm concerned.

Once again it seems my bees "break the rules", bless them.
Chris

I think I'm missing something here...you make no inspections yet seem pretty certain that no casts haven't set off for the widespread French woodlands. So how exactly do you know? CCTV to all hives?

And there's a lot more space for wild bees to get on with their lives in France than here I think you'll agree?

 

[Torq]

Torq,

Gentle reminder - this is a "Beekeeping" Forum, not a "Bee-Distribution" Forum.

Consider that squirting up to 5 swarm/casts of "angry" bees into the gene-pool of your local bee population may not make you many friends.

This year our local gene pool is predominantly angry bees already with all being managed colonies. It's also a lightly populated rural area with few beekeepers and those that are around all know each other.

As we have zero wild colonies over here I sincerely doubt a cast or two of angry bees is going to destroy our eco system. Unlike the English new age traveller who brought a hive over here and introduced varroa to Ireland.

Maybe no casts will issue from this hive. Who knows? Only the bees.

 

[Torq]

Also. I watched a very senior member of the FIBKA (who owns 70 colonies) do a hive inspection on a Q- colony last saturday. A queen had emerged and he released 3 more into the colony from ripe cells, he said they'd sort them selves out by the end of the day.

 

[DanBee]

I find it totally incredible when I read some of the comments on here, is it something in the water?

I reiterate, I make no inspections therefore I leave all QC's, allow the bees to swarm, and let the bees sort it out.

Given that your approach is that of a non-beekeeper, how do you know what's going on in your hives?!

 

[DanBee]

Also. I watched a very senior member of the FIBKA (who owns 70 colonies) do a hive inspection on a Q- colony last saturday. A queen had emerged and he released 3 more into the colony from ripe cells, he said they'd sort them selves out by the end of the day.

Bees would normally control the emergence of successive virgins, this is how casts get thrown successively rather than six at once. Watch them sealing emerging queens back in.

If the beekeeper interferes with this process - either by distracting the bees that are containing virgins, or by releasing near-emergent virgins - then those virgins will fight. If no other queen cell remains then the victor will stay to head the colony; if other queen cells remain then again casting is a possibility.

 

[djg]

Torq,

With respect for your local customs and your unique ecology, I still don't get it.

You have a single hive of bees. You are prepared to risk 1 prime swarm and up to 5 casts from that colony. This would almost certainly make your single colony unviable.

You say that you have culled 10 QCs and left 6 on the basis that there are never any casts in your area. So where's the logic in your actions ? Why not leave all the QCs?

While Queens will indeed fight to the death in nature, it seems odd to deliberately manage a colony to provide the potential for multiple mass exodus (to face certain death, as you suggests, as a cast in your area) and/or a "battle royal" of the virgin Qs.

My advice would be to bring in some new genes by requeening from outside your immediate vicinity, with a better-tempered strain. If, as you say, all the bees in your area are "angry", it may be the result of allowing that characteristic to run riot through the management customs which you articulate. It may be worth trying something else.

On the number of QCs, I would recommend two for a single colony (insurance) and would want to select unsealed cells, ideally, where evidence of royal jelly and healthy larvae can be seen.

To repeat, bee-proliferation and beekeeping are not the same thing.

Apologies for the varroa, by the way...

 

[djg]

Torq,

Apologies for this clumsy revision, but I have not been able to edit my original post. It should have read:

With respect for your local customs and your unique ecology, I still don't get it.

You have a single hive of bees. You are prepared to risk 1 prime swarm and up to 5 casts from that colony. This would almost certainly make your single colony unviable.

You say that you have culled 10 QCs and left 6. So where's the logic in your actions ? Why not leave all the QCs?

While Queens will indeed fight to the death in nature, it seems odd to deliberately manage a colony to provide the potential for multiple mass exodus and/or a "battle royal" of the virgin Qs.

My advice would be to bring in some new genes by requeening from outside your immediate vicinity, with a better-tempered strain. If, as you say, all the bees in your area are "angry", it may be the result of allowing that characteristic to run riot through the management customs which you articulate. It may be worth trying something else.

On the number of QCs, I would recommend two for a single colony (insurance) and would want to select unsealed cells, ideally, where evidence of royal jelly and healthy larvae can be seen.

To repeat, bee-proliferation and beekeeping are not the same thing.

Apologies for the varroa, by the way...

 

[oliver90owner]

After 4 pages of discussion, perhaps it would have been better to have started this thread with a title line of 'Do you leave one or two queen cells, and why?'

Any other number is not beekeeping.

Those that might 'bank' an extra cell (or the old queen) into a nuc hive are very sensible, provided there are sufficient bees and certainly if colony increase is desired.

The rest are not really thinking. Sorry, but true. There is no excuse for doing anything else for the well-being of your bees.

Some, even are unable to recognize the difference between releasing virgin queens into a colony and leaving them in their cells (to emerge after the other queens may well have departed as casts).

Let there be no mistake there are good and poor practices. Good beekeepers and poor beekeepers. If some are unable to even tell the difference they must, by definition, be in the latter group.

I am numerate. Only one could issue if two cells are left. There can be none if one cell is left. The latter situation represents a risk of there being no queen emerging at all. That risk is more easily managed if there is more than a single colony and may represent no problem whatsoever to those with many colonies.

Again, beekeeping is simple. It just seems the thinking part is difficult for some. Think ahead, always.

RAB

 

[Chris Luck]

Any other number is not beekeeping.

Ahhh, once again someone has the right to say what is and what isn't bee keeping....

You really should and can do better RAB.

Chris