New queen, a swarm, queen cell, confused 3rd year beek!

[ANDubuis]

Hi all,

I am an urban beekeeper in London, UK. Our neighbour complained to the council about the volume of bees we had this spring - so had to urgently move some hives to new locations.

One of the hives we had to move was a queenless split (not ideal I know) that was made on Tuesday 13th April.

On Wednesday, 21 April, the day before moving the hive, I observed capped queen cells:

Thursday 22nd April, we moved the hive.

Then, on Monday 9th May, this hive swarmed, presumably with a virgin / mated queen? I captured them and moved to a new hive in a nearby location.



I looked into the original hive, and observed honey and pollen, no eggs or larvae, and a few frames of bees. I also observed one open queen cell, and one capped queen cell (pictured below).


This queen cell is in the exact same location as the queen cell I observed on 22nd April, but seems to be a new / different cell.

What is happening here? Any input and comments appreciated, thanks for your time!

Adrien

 

[enrico]

I

Hi all,

I am an urban beekeeper in London, UK. Our neighbour complained to the council about the volume of bees we had this spring - so had to urgently move some hives to new locations.

One of the hives we had to move was a queenless split (not ideal I know) that was made on Tuesday 13th April.

On Wednesday, 22nd April, the day before moving the hive, I observed capped queen cells: View attachment 25933

Thursday 22nd April, we moved the hive.

Then, on Monday 9th May, this hive swarmed, presumably with a virgin / mated queen? I captured them and moved to a new hive in a nearby location.

View attachment 25935

I looked into the original hive, and observed honey and pollen, no eggs or larvae, and a few frames of bees. I also observed one open queen cell, and one capped queen cell (pictured below).

View attachment 25937

This queen cell is in the exact same location as the queen cell I observed on 22nd April, but seems to be a new / different cell.

What is happening here? Any input and comments appreciated, thanks for your time!

Adrien

I reckon they have resealed the old queen cell. You will probably find a worker bee inside!
Ps, can you put your photos on thumbnail they take ages to load!!!!!

 

[Arfermo]

I I reckon they have resealed the old queen cell. You will probably find a worker bee inside!
Ps, can you put your photos on thumbnail they take ages to load!!!!!

Odd. Where are you putting the pics? I see them very clearly in microseconds without frills. Just interested.

 

[B+.]

Hi all,

I am an urban beekeeper in London, UK. Our neighbour complained to the council about the volume of bees we had this spring - so had to urgently move some hives to new locations.

One of the hives we had to move was a queenless split (not ideal I know) that was made on Tuesday 13th April.

On Wednesday, 22nd April, the day before moving the hive, I observed capped queen cells: View attachment 25933

Thursday 22nd April, we moved the hive.

Then, on Monday 9th May, this hive swarmed, presumably with a virgin / mated queen? I captured them and moved to a new hive in a nearby location.

View attachment 25935

I looked into the original hive, and observed honey and pollen, no eggs or larvae, and a few frames of bees. I also observed one open queen cell, and one capped queen cell (pictured below).

View attachment 25937

This queen cell is in the exact same location as the queen cell I observed on 22nd April, but seems to be a new / different cell.

What is happening here? Any input and comments appreciated, thanks for your time!

Adrien

I notice that the cell is on the edge of a patch of drone comb in photo 1. The cell is in the same position in the final photo. The workers in photo 1 have emerged and they're back-filling the cells with fresh nectar.

 

[ANDubuis]

I I reckon they have resealed the old queen cell. You will probably find a worker bee inside!
Ps, can you put your photos on thumbnail they take ages to load!!!!!

Thanks for the swift reply!

I see that is an option now, not something that crossed my mind / knew was a possibility. A worker bee inside the queen cell? Who would have laid that egg? #confused

If I put a frame of brood and eggs in this hive, do you think they will have a chance of making a new queen?

Think I have edited as thumbnails only now, sorry about that!

 

[ANDubuis]

I notice that the cell is on the edge of a patch of drone comb in photo 1. The cell is in the same position in the final photo. The workers in photo 1 have emerged and they're back-filling the cells with fresh nectar.

So you think it’s the same queen cell? Do you also think there’s a worker in there and it has been resealed, like Enrico said?

Would that be an adult worker? How would an egg have been laid?

 

[B+.]

So you think it’s the same queen cell? Do you also think there’s a worker in there and it has been resealed, like Enrico said?

Would that be an adult worker? How would an egg have been laid?

I think it's the same cell. Sometimes, workers do go into a cell to clean it out and can't reverse out (just like queens do). It is possible that the cell was closed up again but it is also possible that there is a dead queen pupa in there. There's only one way to find out.

 

[ANDubuis]

I think it's the same cell. Sometimes, workers do go into a cell to clean it our and can't reverse out (just like queens do). It is possible that the cell was closed up again but it is also possible that there is a dead queen pupa in there. There's only one way to find out.

I see, thanks so much.

What about the frames of bees in here? Any chance to rescue? Can I shake them into the swarm, or give them some eggs and brood to rear a new queen?

 

[B+.]

I see, thanks so much.

What about the frames of bees in here? Any chance to rescue? Can I shake them into the swarm, or give them some eggs and brood to rear a new queen?

Either one. If you can donate a frame with brood in all stages, they may make a new queen. This would give the colony a chance. There are drones available now so it's possible

 

[enrico]

Sorry I wasn't very wordy with my first reply. Sometimes worker bees go into an empty queen cell and then get stuck in there. Or maybe their mates just seal them in for a laugh. It will be an old queen cell that has been resealed. That it is a total guess! You really need to open the cell to see what has happened and then wack a test frame in to see what state the hive is in. Hope this helps!