Queen cell in super full of honey, but queen is definitely in the brood box

[beekake]

Took some supers off the hives today to extract the oil seed rape honey. In one deep super (a brood box with deep frames, directly above the queen excluder...put there to get the bees to build comb in anticipation of using the comb later in the season when doing an AS) there was a solitary unsealed queen cell. THe cell had a ~6d larvae and royal jelly in it. In the remainder of the frame, the bees had stored honey in a lovely arch, with pollen stores and some empty cells below.

There was no evidence of any other egg laying or larvae in that frame, or any of the other 11 deep frames in the box, from which we got about 10kg of honey. There is plenty of evidence of egg laying and sealed and unsealed brood in the brood box below the QE: in fact the queen is laying at a prolific rate, as checked 2d ago.

Is there any way that the queen could have laid an egg through the QE and into the super above, and then a QC been built around it? Or is there another, more simple explanation?

 

[Midland Beek]

So, if you have harvested the honey and the pollen from this colony, what will it have if rain confines them for a few days?

I guess the egg was one laid by a worker.

 

[MuswellMetro]

S

I guess the egg was one laid by a worker.

A king cell then, has anyone every seen a Mr King bee from a drone egg filled queen cell

 

[Polyanwood]

Not seen any king cells, but sometimes bees do move eggs......

 

[Tom Bick]

Have never read or heard about a king cells or even if bees move eggs but from my limited experience a hive of laying workers do try to produce queen cells.

I also know that in a healthy hive it will have a number of laying workers and most of the eggs from the laying workers are removed by the bees but not all and perhaps this is what you have in this situation.

 

[TREVOR HILL]

ive got a Q E with a small blow hole in the plastic. she found it

 

[MuswellMetro]

Not seen any king cells, but sometimes bees do move eggs......

P&W

yes i agree, but it could also be a drone eggs from a worker, i have read single eggs from workers are quite common but that was on a USA web site and i dont alway beleive them

i have seen last ditch drone queen cells in a drone laying queen's hive but never seen them emerge

 

[Busy Bee]

What you should do is graft the cell, hatch the cell and see what comes out then send the royal entity to Bcrazy for examination.

Busy Bee

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Interesting.

In one hive, that I'm helping to manage, it has 5 supers on and in two of them are various frames of drone brood and the odd 'supercedure' cell in the middle....not at all developed..just sat there as an incipient.

I am at a complete loss as how to explain this.

 

[Mosquito]

I have seen the odd Queen Cell in the Super with royal jelly in it..
Bees do move eggs around.
If the queen puts 2 eggs in one cell the bees will move one egg to an empty cell.
So could of put one in the QC in the super.