One cell or two?

[madasafish]

After leaving two cells - and having them swarm - I only leave one.

If it's a dud, lots more hives with young larvae...

 

[For want of a better word]

After leaving two cells - and having them swarm - I only leave one.

If it's a dud, lots more hives with young larvae...

​

Yeghes da

 

[itma]

If the queen cell is uncapped so I can see a nice healthy larva in there - I just leave the one - if the cells are sealed I may (just may!) leave two - depends on how lucky I feel on the day

That's kinda what I do.
If it comes to all the cells being sealed, I'd leave two BUT I'd leave two that were about the same size and appearance AND either close together, on the same comb, or on adjacent comb faces.
If the first girl out thinks there could be a rival or alternate, I want the rival to be impossible for No 1 to ignore or to fail to reach and eliminate.

But the ideal is to select one well-developed open cell (ie one that is close to being sealed, and looks good), and mark it/its frame, eliminating all others (shaking ALL the other frames to check them properly). Brush, don't shake the chosen-cell's frame. THEN, close to, but not more that 8 days later, come back again and remove any/all other new ones that have appeared.

 

[REDWOOD]

If you have the equipment pop one in a mating nuc for insurance

 

[kazmcc]

But the ideal is to select one well-developed open cell (ie one that is close to being sealed, and looks good), and mark it/its frame, eliminating all others (shaking ALL the other frames to check them properly). Brush, don't shake the chosen-cell's frame. THEN, close to, but not more that 8 days later, come back again and remove any/all other new ones that have appeared.

Thank you itma, clear and concise.

 

[itma]

If you have the equipment pop one in a mating nuc for insurance

Why stop at one?

 

[REDWOOD]

Well one won't weaken a colony too much if you need to do an AS as you only need a cup or two of bees but I suppose it all depends on how big the colony.