Leaving 2 sealed queen cells

[drex]

Due to the prolonged illness of my wife, who died peacefully recently, my hives have been neglected this year. When I finally got round to going through the BB's, most of them had swarmed, leaving me sealed queen cells. - all were on double brood, with queens from last year.
I cut them all down to two. On inspection today, in one hive there were two cells side by side ( hence likely similar in age) with ripe tips, so I decided to release the virgins. In one cell a healthy virgin emerged, in the other was a large dead grub. Had a I knocked them down to one cell, I might have chosen the wrong one. Obviously the idea of giving them plenty of room with young queens did not work either

 

[enrico]

I opened three the other day, all promising and all duds!
Sorry for your loss Drex. Looking forward to hearing more from you. You were missed
E

 

[drex]

Thanks enrico. Getting more back to normal now.
I was trying to make the point that the "perceived" wisdom in the books is never 100% on the ball.
e.g. " the bees will not seal over a dud cell"
" give them plenty of room and young queens" to put them off swarming

 

[Millet]

Over the past two weeks i have been going through hives and destroying large numbers of Queen cells and i find what you are mentioning quite accurate.

1/3 of the cells had larvae 1/3 where duds and 1/3 with a brownish tip to them had a live Virgins ready to emerge.
So it is not a bad idea to leave two cells if you know what you are looking for.

Also all mine where 2017 Queens on double brood with loads of room to lay but they still went for it..

So sorry to hear of your sad bereavement.

 

[beeno]

So, sorry to hear of the loss of your wife.
I bee keep on the same principles as you. I am yet to find out if they work this year! However, I do believe that this is an exceptional year as my colonies are stronger than ever and have brought in a better than average spring crop. Both these factors will make them more likely to swarm in themselves.
Last spring I lost a queen through my own fault and when it came to choosing QCs I gave up because two were dead shortly after being capped. So I left it to the bees and they got it right. At the time the nights were very cold so I put it down to having been chilled. The nights have been cold this spring as well up until very recently. Well well, thanks for the heads up I shall make sure I have a backup for the future. Good lucky with sorting them all out.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

@Drex I'm so sorry.

I have luck with the Wally Shaw principle (And others') of bleeding flying bees to prevent casts (and primes, using his modified Snelgrove method) and leaving the bees to sort out the QCs.

 

[Finman]

Over the past two weeks i have been going through hives and destroying queen cells....

Also all mine where 2017 Queens on double brood with loads of room to lay but they still went for it..
.

Yeah. Hive swarms when it is ripen to do that. No space hinder that.
Only which helps is artificial swarm at once when you see queen cells. And with foundations.
.

 

[Finman]

Over the past two weeks i have been going through hives and destroying large numbers of Queen cells and i find what you are mentioning quite accurate.

1/3 of the cells had larvae 1/3 where duds and 1/3 with a brownish tip to them had a live Virgins ready to emerge.
So it is not a bad idea to leave two cells .

This kind of swarm control does not help. Bees do more swarm cells and then they swarm.

To leave two queen cells. Where?
You could put them boath into cage and look, what they are. And those hidden cells.

Swarming fever does not go away with breaking queen cells.
.

 

[Millet]

This kind of swarm control does not help. Bees do more swarm cells and then they swarm.

To leave two queen cells. Where?
You could put them boath into cage and look, what they are. And those hidden cells.

Swarming fever does not go away with breaking queen cells.
.

I know but the clipped Queens do not get very far.

 

[Finman]

I know but the clipped Queens do not get very far.

Two queen cells has nothing to do with clipped queen.

What heck swarm control method is two queen cells? I do not have met it in litterature. It is too often here as a main point.

 

[Millet]

Two queen cells has nothing to do with clipped queen.

What heck swarm control method is two queen cells? I do not have met it in litterature. It is too often here as a main point.

Read Drex's original post.

 

[Finman]

Read Drex's original post.

Sad story....

 

[REDWOOD]

Sorry for your loss drex
If you know approximately the age of the cells you could pull one and see

 

[Millet]

Sorry for your loss drex
If you know approximately the age of the cells you could pull one and see

I did the same as Drex 2wks ago with three Nuc's, when the two Queen cells where capped i removed the ones i did not like and kept a single Queen cell with a darker tip in each Nuc, i have been through the Nuc's today and i have a virgin running around in each Nuc.

 

[Finman]

I did the same as Drex 2wks ago with three Nuc's, when the two Queen cells where capped i removed the ones i did not like and kept a single Queen cell with a darker tip in each Nuc, i have been through the Nuc's today and i have a virgin running around in each Nuc.

When I do mating nucs, I never put two Queen cells to emerge there. Only one.

 

[Millet]

When I do mating nucs, I never put two Queen cells to emerge there. Only one.

It is my first attempt at it and the way i have done it it has worked x 3..just need to get them mated now.

I have also done the same with three hives one also has a Virgin running around in there and another two will be inspected on Saturday/Sunday they was two Queen cells in the hives also but i knocked one down in each that i did not like just like the OP stated in his thread.
They also have clipped Queens in there one Queen has already vanished to a Virgin, the other two wait there fate, i would have done pagden but i'm starting to run short of boxes so i will try this, if they get mated i will have new Queens in every hive for next spring, if it fails i will buy mated Queens.

 

[Beefriendly]

When I do mating nucs, I never put two Queen cells to emerge there. Only one.

And I'll bet your success rate is about 50%???
Might be improved if you added 2
Now that's an idea....add an extra hole in an Apidea....hummmm.

 

[Finman]

And I'll bet your success rate is about 50%???
Might be improved if you added 2
Now that's an idea....add an extra hole in an Apidea....hummmm.

My success rate is almost 100% in emerging.

IT is 50% if each pair of virgins kill each others.

I have spare Queens emerged in cages.

In AS case I leave all queen cells into brood hive. First emerged destroys all others and I do not need to find them.