Queen Cells, I'll show you Queen cells!!

[DulwichGnome]

For reasons too long to go into, I split one of my colonies last week and on the frame with eggs I cut the bottom away leaving 'points' for Queen Cells to be built. While I did not expect a perfect cell on the end of each point I was surprised by what I found yesterday!!

Is this normal?

 

[biglongdarren]

is there eggs in the uncapped cells?any chance they could be drone cells?
Darren.

 

[RoofTops]

There seems to be several capped queen cells. Assuming this was a queenless colony then I suggest remove all but the largest - but it will be tricky as they as so close together.

Alternatively, and probably a better idea if you can't isolate a single good capped one, is remove all but one uncapped cell, assuming you can find one on its own.

It will be an "emergency queen" so don't expect too much from her but you may be lucky.

 

[hornett]

Could be drone cells

 

[nottingham]

I found a few capped cells like that on Friday and there was nuffing in them.

 

[RoofTops]

They are not drone cells folks and a capped queen cell without any thing in it can be a sign the queen has already emerged and the workers have re-sealed the cell - which they often do, being of a tidy nature.

 

[DulwichGnome]

This is in a nuc box with young bees and I am feeding it. There does not seem to be any thing in any of the other cells and all the capped ones are nested together.

This is some thing I've not tried before so I wanted to try it before I had to, if that makes sense. I was just surprised how many cups where created! Maybe I need to look at it a couple of days earlier and remove some before they are capped.

Timing is everything.....

Mike

 

[Chris Luck]

It will be an "emergency queen" so don't expect too much from her but you may be lucky.

Any chance of an explanation?

Chris

 

[drstitson]

"It will be an "emergency queen" so don't expect too much from her but you may be lucky.
Any chance of an explanation?"

emergency cells are produced using whatever material the workers have to hand and are fed differently. hence you get weaker scrub queens.

if you'd let them draw them for a day then transfer frame back into queenright colony you'd've had supercedure type handling.

 

[MrB]

My emergency queen from last year is going great guns!!!

 

[RoofTops]

Any queen is better than no queen, but as DrS says above, the general rule is a queen raised under the emergency impulse is usually not as good as one finished off in a queen-right colony. In the latter case feeding tends to go on longer - but there can always be exceptions as MrB says.

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes mrB but you cannot generalise from the particular. Yors may be brilliant but it does not make the case for all of them.

There is a fancy name for doing queen cells in this manner, ie cutting the comb in a zig zag and the pics are a neat illustraion of the down side of it.

Namely the ability to handle the resultant cells. The official method suggests knocking out every two and leaving the third for this very reason.

Cell plugs are so much handier. Literally.

PH

 

[BKF Admin]

The fancy name is "Miller frame".

I was reading it only last night in Cramps Beekeepers field guide.

 

[Chris Luck]

the general rule is a queen raised under the emergency impulse is usually not as good as one finished off in a queen-right colony.

Guess I've always been lucky then, never did like "the general rule" or any other general for that matter.....

Now boys and girls, pay attention at the back.

Chris

 

[DulwichGnome]

In the latter case feeding tends to go on longer - but there can always be exceptions as MrB says.

Thanks RoofTops, that may explain why I was expecting to see uncapped QC's and was a bit surprised to see them finished.

Mike.

 

[MrB]

Yes mrB but you cannot generalise from the particular.

I wasn't

 

[Skyhook]

Any queen is better than no queen, but as DrS says above, the general rule is a queen raised under the emergency impulse is usually not as good as one finished off in a queen-right colony. In the latter case feeding tends to go on longer - but there can always be exceptions as MrB says.

I managed to render my hive queenless on Wednesday evening. By sunday noon there were sealed as well as unsealed QC's. Are the sealed ones neccesarily from over-aged larvae, or might they then be OK? The sealed ones were all of a good size and shape. At the moment they have one of each- I'm trying to decide if I should knock out the sealed cell?