queen cell

[always weeding]

good evening, i have inspected the hive tonight and found an emergency queen cell,what i would like to know is:- does this mean that they have made this cell from an egg less than 3 days old and is it probable to grow into a queen?
any advice appreciated
View attachment 6848

 

[VEG]

it should grow into a queen but I would be asking why they made it in the first place.
were there any other eggs in the hive?

 

[jimmybee]

some body sold her a queen less hive. I read some where. leave the cell and wait 3 weeks. good luck hope all goes well if not you will have to buy a queen in.

 

[VEG]

Ahh I remember reading the thread.

 

[always weeding]

so does this cell look ok to you and will it grow into a queen?

yes i have a queenless hive without any eggs.

 

[VEG]

It is a queen cell but if it is an emergency cell there are usually a lot more than one.

 

[always weeding]

there were other queen cells just over 5 days ago at the bottom of the frames but these were destroyed before finding out that there were no eggs or a queen.
there is one sealed cell inthe middle of the frame and an open cell on another but there is only the two

 

[jimmybee]

I would leave them to it and see what happens, it will save you money if it mates well and starts laying if not you can always buy a queen at the end of the month.

 

[VEG]

then you should be ok

 

[jimmybee]

That sounds really good and it looks like a really good cell.

 

[always weeding]

sorry everyone, i may be being really thick here. am i right in thinking this,a queen cell can only be made if the egg is 3 days old or less and will then feed it royal jelly for 5 days before it is then capped as a queen cell like in the picture.

is there any other way that this could be a queenless cell as i am unsure how long the colony has been queenless or eggless for.i hope that this makes sense

 

[VEG]

the egg takes 3 days to hatch so anytime after this it can be fed royal jelly.

 

[VEG]

I have blown up your picture and think just below that queen cell there are some uncapped brood cells so working it out they would have been queenless for less than 9 days.

 

[jimmybee]

cell gets sealed on day 8/9 so it many be the egg was one of the last to be layed so stop stressing you said there was an opened cell on another frame. was there any thing in it? then if so there fine dont mess with them and wait and see what happens.

 

[always weeding]

thank you jimmybee, i appreciate the advice. there wasnt anythihnng in it and yes there is a few unsealed brood cells on the frames. i will now be leaving the hive to fend for itself for a while now and need to resist the urge to check on them and see what happens.

 

[jimmybee]

Im not far from you so if you need any thing pm me I may have a spare queen around end july and you can have alook around my hives if you like. are you in south staff's bka??

 

[oliver90owner]

I would not be surprised if there has been some short changing here. Question might arise as to whether the nuc actually ever came with a queen. If that frame was shaken early on, it could so easily now be a dud.

Seems to me to be a very unsatisfactory situation. All ways round. Good luck if you wish to sit back, and wait, and hope.

 

[always weeding]

thanks for the optimism oliver90owner

 

[oliver90owner]

Optimism? Honest appraisal of the situation. You can live in hope, but be prepared for the worst.

 

[always weeding]

my glass is always half full.thanks for the honesty though.