Queen cell still open after a week

[Wilkasaurus]

I'm a fresh first year beekeeper, I'm 4 weeks in
I collected my nuc end of May and my bee supplier warned me it's a very swarmy year.
Last friday i saw 3 charged queen cells, still open. At this stage I was doing weekly inspections. In hindsight I'd probably added a super too late as they drew out the comb in the brood box rapidly

Anyway I went to learn about swarm control and put my queen in a nuc box, 2 frames brood 1 honey, 1 nectar and 2 foundation.


I squashed all queen cells in my wbc hive but one, which I could see royal jelly in and it was at the top of a brood frame


6 days later, today, i see more queen cups and squash them, most arent charged. I leave the original charged cell. But it's still open. Cant really see inside it very well now.


My queen is doing very well in her nuc, theyve drawn out all the foundation I gave them

I'm not sure what to do now. Shouldnt my charged cell be closed now? Was it just a queen cup and I split prematurely?

I was planning to wait for them to hatch a virgin queen, then squash her and reintroduce my nuc to the hive to make it strong for winter. I like my 2023 queen and I dont fancy marking a new virgin queen and risking introducing disease etc


But maybe there's no virgin queen coming if the cell has been open for 6 days. Should I check again next week? Or should I just squash that charged cell and reintroduce my queen carefully , hoping that their swarming instinct has gone now


Thanks for reading this and I know it's possible my amateurishness is preventing me from seeing the problem

 

[markb2603]

Queen cells are usually capped on day 9 so it’s probably fine for now and will be capped in due course. I imagine the actual queen cell itself is bigger than it was when you saw it first? Leave it a couple more days and then very gently have a look in if you really want to confirm it’s capped. Otherwise, l let them do their thing and check for eggs in 4 weeks.

 

[Anduril]

Today it would be around day 10 if on Friday they had just started to draw out the cell, otherwise the cell should be older if it was drawn out by quite a bit. The cell may now be a dud so I would transfer a frame of bias (brood in all stages) from the nuc and place it in the original hive and see what happens.

 

[Wilkasaurus]

Queen cells are usually capped on day 9 so it’s probably fine for now and will be capped in due course. I imagine the actual queen cell itself is bigger than it was when you saw it first? Leave it a couple more days and then very gently have a look in if you really want to confirm it’s capped. Otherwise, l let them do their thing and check for eggs in 4 weeks.

You know actually its not much bigger than when I left it a week ago. So perhaps its a dud and I squashed a few good queen cells.

 

[Wilkasaurus]

Today it would be around day 10 if on Friday they had just started to draw out the cell, otherwise the cell should be older if it was drawn out by quite a bit. The cell may now be a dud so I would transfer a frame of bias (brood in all stages) from the nuc and place it in the original hive and see what happens.

Ok I'll do that tomorrow, thanks so much for the advice.
Do you think if I put the queen back in the hive she'll try to swarm now?? Because if I dont they hive bees are going to try making an emergency queen cell out of the eggs I give them which I dont really want unless it's absolutely necessary to put them off swarming

 

[Anduril]

There's nothing wrong with emergency queen cells, I've used them many times.

 

[Cole lynch]

I'm a fresh first year beekeeper, I'm 4 weeks in
I collected my nuc end of May and my bee supplier warned me it's a very swarmy year.
Last friday i saw 3 charged queen cells, still open. At this stage I was doing weekly inspections. In hindsight I'd probably added a super too late as they drew out the comb in the brood box rapidly

Anyway I went to learn about swarm control and put my queen in a nuc box, 2 frames brood 1 honey, 1 nectar and 2 foundation.


I squashed all queen cells in my wbc hive but one, which I could see royal jelly in and it was at the top of a brood frame


6 days later, today, i see more queen cups and squash them, most arent charged. I leave the original charged cell. But it's still open. Cant really see inside it very well now.


My queen is doing very well in her nuc, theyve drawn out all the foundation I gave them

I'm not sure what to do now. Shouldnt my charged cell be closed now? Was it just a queen cup and I split prematurely?

I was planning to wait for them to hatch a virgin queen, then squash her and reintroduce my nuc to the hive to make it strong for winter. I like my 2023 queen and I dont fancy marking a new virgin queen and risking introducing disease etc


But maybe there's no virgin queen coming if the cell has been open for 6 days. Should I check again next week? Or should I just squash that charged cell and reintroduce my queen carefully , hoping that their swarming instinct has gone now


Thanks for reading this and I know it's possible my amateurishness is preventing me from seeing the problem

Are you saying you do not want to increase your colonies?
It’s just that as a newbee, your first priority would usually be to increase your apiary to at least 2 colonies. Having 2 hives is really the minimum number you’ll require to remain self sufficient and sustainable. Otherwise you run the risk of having to buy in nucs to replace losses and have nothing to compare your one colony to.
As stated you could add eggs & larvae from the nuc. Let them requeen and install the nuc into your 2nd hive.

 

[Wilkasaurus]

Are you saying you do not want to increase your colonies?
It’s just that as a newbee, your first priority would usually be to increase your apiary to at least 2 colonies. Having 2 hives is really the minimum number you’ll require to remain self sufficient and sustainable. Otherwise you run the risk of having to buy in nucs to replace losses and have nothing to compare your one colony to.
As stated you could add eggs & larvae from the nuc. Let them requeen and install the nuc into your 2nd hive.

I'm thinking of icreasing to two colonies... is it too late in the year to do that? I worry that I'll end up with two weak colonies instead of one strong one for the winter. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I'll see if there's a flatpack national in the bee supply shop today

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'm thinking of icreasing to two colonies... is it too late in the year to do that?

no

 

[Wilkasaurus]

no

Ok great... looks like I'm going shopping today!
Thanks

 

[Erichalfbee]

But I’d buy a good queen rather than let the bees raise one

 

[ericbeaumont]

I like my 2023 queen and I dont fancy marking a new virgin queen and risking introducing disease

As Cole said, run two for good reason, even if the second is a nuc that you can upgrade next spring.

Marking is better done at the end of summer or in spring when the colony is smaller. If you can't find her but do want to mark her, ask another beekeeper to lend a hand. There's no obligation to mark.

If you like your queen (though you don't say why) the daughter will inherit many of her traits. My imagination is pretty flexible but I cannot see a link between queen marking and the introduction of disease.

 

[ericbeaumont]

is it too late in the year to do that?

You've nearly done it!

 

[Wilkasaurus]

As Cole said, run two for good reason, even if the second is a nuc that you can upgrade next spring.

Marking is better done at the end of summer or in spring when the colony is smaller. If you can't find her but do want to mark her, ask another beekeeper to lend a hand. There's no obligation to mark.

If you like your queen (though you don't say why) the daughter will inherit many of her traits. My imagination is pretty flexible but I cannot see a link between queen marking and the introduction of disease.

I meant introducing disease by having a virgin queen mate with a feral drone. But you're right she will have the traits I need. I'll probably be bad at finding her but I can have a go at marking in the spring maybe
Only thing stopping me is the availability of hives I think...
I'm very grateful for the useful comments

 

[ericbeaumont]

introducing disease by having a virgin queen mate with a feral dron

Not much can be done about open mating, but I've not heard of disease transmission that way.

 

[drex]

Nor have I ( difficult to prove), but because there is an exchange of bodily fluids, in theory totally possible. However would a diseased drone be fit enough to catch a queen?

 

[drex]

. But you're right she will have the traits I need. I'll probably be bad at finding her but I can have a go at marking in the spring maybe
Only thing stopping me is the availability of hives I think...
I'm very grateful for the useful comments

She may have some of the queen mothers good traits, but may also have bad from drone. However, I have improved my mongrel bees by selecting good queens.
Starting off with a positive attitude always helps me in queen finding.

 

[Wilkasaurus]

Great. Well I've had to order a new hive from thornes so thats 10 days wait. I'll give some eggs to the hive from the nuc so they can requeen. Just hoping my queen doesnt get cabin fever in her nuc over the next 10 days and try to swarm

The advice has been excellent thank you

 

[ericbeaumont]

nuc over the next 10 days and try to swarm

If laying space is running short, take a frame of sealed brood and give that to the full colony as well.

Give the nuc foundation. You can do this as often as you like, to prevent congestion yet keep it strong.

 

[E&MBees]

Ok great... looks like I'm going shopping today!
Thanks

If you need kit, wait until the weekend. Maisemore are having a sale.