Is this supercedure?

[alfazer]

New queen result of an AS in late April. She has been laying well and I marked and clipped her. Last week I found a queen cell and destroyed it. Today I find three more, all open and charged, all on the same side of just one frame.
Queen is still laying, but not at the rate she was using flow in May.

Should I just assume this is supercedure and leave her and the new cells to let nature take its course? maybe they don't like my marking and clipping.

Or is there a chance they could be making swarm prep?

 

[mjt68]

New queen result of an AS in late April. She has been laying well and I marked and clipped her. Last week I found a queen cell and destroyed it. Today I find three more, all open and charged, all on the same side of just one frame.
Queen is still laying, but not at the rate she was using flow in May.

Should I just assume this is supercedure and leave her and the new cells to let nature take its course? maybe they don't like my marking and clipping.

Or is there a chance they could be making swarm prep?

They certainly could be swarming.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Or is there a chance they could be making swarm prep?

More than a chance, I would say a certainty

 

[alfazer]

I'm struggling to get a handle on the swarming theory.... brand new queen, a fairly small colony still with a couple of undrawn frames and yet swarming is likely.

 

[mjt68]

I'm all for understanding theory, but the most important thing is to respond to what's in front of you.

 

[Eyeman]

New queen result of an AS in late April. She has been laying well and I marked and clipped her. Last week I found a queen cell and destroyed it. Today I find three more, all open and charged, all on the same side of just one frame.
Queen is still laying, but not at the rate she was using flow in May.

Should I just assume this is supercedure and leave her and the new cells to let nature take its course? maybe they don't like my marking and clipping.

Or is there a chance they could be making swarm prep?

I've 2 colonies that I'm assuming are superceding on one queen cell. I tend to see supercedure during this gap between the spring and summer flow.
What would I do now in your situation with a clipped queen?
I would recheck the colony in one week's time and
1. If there are still only the 3 (now capped QC's) I would remove 2 and leave one to emerge and check them in 3 weeks.
2. If there are more QC's then I would take action to stop a swarm.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I've 2 colonies that I'm assuming are superceding on one queen cell. I tend to see supercedure during this gap between the spring and summer flow.
What would I do now in your situation with a clipped queen?
I would recheck the colony in one week's time and
1. If there are still only the 3 (now capped QC's) I would remove 2 and leave one to emerge and check them in 3 weeks.
2. If there are more QC's then I would take action to stop a swarm.

All the time hoping that the old queen hasn't cleared off with half the colony when the queen cells were capped?

 

[birdsandbees]

All the time hoping that the old queen hasn't cleared off with half the colony when the queen cells were capped?

although didn't the OP say she was clipped.

'maybe they don't like my marking and clipping'

 

[Eyeman]

All the time hoping that the old queen hasn't cleared off with half the colony when the queen cells were capped?

Mine dont fly when there clipped, means you've got an extra week before the first virgin emerges.

 

[alfazer]

Mine dont fly when there clipped, means you've got an extra week before the first virgin emerges.

Does this mean:
1. the queen knows she can't fly so doesn't attempt to fly outside at all?
Or does it mean...
2. she takes off, falls on the ground and most of her followers return to the hive?

 

[alfazer]

Another option I'm thinking about is taking the queen out of this box and letting the bees get on with making a new queen.
I could use her in a nuc I have, which seems to be queenless/virgin-still-not-mated/non-laying queen.

 

[madasafish]

Another option I'm thinking about is taking the queen out of this box and letting the bees get on with making a new queen.
I could use her in a nuc I have, which seems to be queenless/virgin-still-not-mated/non-laying queen.

If you are unsure about the Q state of your nuc and insert your queen, you may end up without her...

 

[Eyeman]

Does this mean:
1. the queen knows she can't fly so doesn't attempt to fly outside at all?
Or does it mean...
2. she takes off, falls on the ground and most of her followers return to the hive?

Both situations happen.