Queen cell, multiple eggs & a queen.

[Matt77]

Afternoon all. I have colony which was the 'parent' part of an AS. On inspecting today I found a couple of things which to my mind was a bit strange.

So, a bit of background first. This was an AS on 1st July, the new queen began laying roughly 5 weeks after the AS. They currently cover between 7 & 8 frames with about 3 frames of brood. There is not much capped brood but there is eggs, they are in week 3 of Apiguard would that explain it?

Now while I was inspecting I noticed what looked like a vacted queen cell on the bottom of one of the frames, inside was a white substance which I can only describe as being like marzipan in texture. It was not obviously a dead larvae. I also saw a number of cells on the outer edge of the brood nest with 2 & 3 eggs in them. I also have a queen still present which I also saw today, it is the same queen they originally produced as I marked her & I recognise my slightly ham fisted attempt at marking.

Any ideas on what I'm seeing? Just a queen getting into gear, duff queen, laying workers? None of the above?

Cheers, Matt.

 

[birdsandbees]

I'm only a beginner myself but my thought are that they could be superseding the current queen as they aren't happy with her, one of my own bees colonies, the ones that were a collected swarm with a Virgin queen settled in and the queen was laying so I was surprised that they began to supercede her, I have to say that they knew best as the new queen they produced is far superior, she's laying really well and they are calmer with her as there leader.
The substance you describe sounds awfully like Royal jelly But that's not normally firm like marzipan.

 

[Matt77]

Hi birdsandbees. My first thought was supercedure when I saw the queen cell. But I'm sure it wasn't royal jelly, it was the wrong consistency. Also there was no grub in the cell. I wondering if what I saw is the remains of a dead grub perhaps? But what is confusing is the cell had the 'lid' open as if a queen had hatched.

 

[Millet]

This was posted Hour's ago and no help/ advice is offered.. may be i should post the question as i wil get 50/50 abuse and answer's.. lol .

 

[REDWOOD]

Apiguard can make the bees uncap brood and stop the queen laying, this is why it is done before the last couple of brood cycles before winter

 

[Matt77]

Hi all, I also wondered about the Apiguard/young queen thing she'd only been laying a week or two before I put the Apiguard on. I actually delayed treating them a week because of this. But surely this doesn't explain the multiple eggs & queen cell though? Obviously I'm a beginner & could be talking out my wotsit!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

while I was inspecting I noticed what looked like a vacted queen cell on the bottom of one of the frames, inside was a white substance which I can only describe as being like marzipan in texture.

sounds like some old, stale royal jelly left in the cell - you sure it wasn't the QC your original queen came out of

 

[Matt77]

I don't think it was the old QC, I marked the frame when I did the AS. It's on a different frame.

 

[drex]

Think they have superceded and it is old royal jelly that you are seeing in the open queen cell. " not much capped brood" - old queen not laying well , due to age/condition or apiguard. A few eggs in each cell - new queen getting into the swing of things.

 

[Matt77]

Cheers all, I'll leave them to it then.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

This was posted Hour's ago and no help/ advice is offered.. may be i should post the question as i wil get 50/50 abuse and answer's.. lol .

Don't forget the forum has lots of members but they aren't all sitting in front of a keyboard waiting for questions to appear. Sometimes it takes a while before someone notices a post and has time to put together an answer.

 

[beeno]

Think they have superceded and it is old royal jelly that you are seeing in the open queen cell. " not much capped brood" - old queen not laying well , due to age/condition or apiguard. A few eggs in each cell - new queen getting into the swing of things.

I agree with birdsandbees and drex.

 

[jgreen]

May I ask a question? I have a similar thing going on in one of my hives. I started treating with apiguard a week and a half ago, and noticed hatched queen cell. Was I wrong in treating? Hope I haven't messed things up.