Queen Cells in Hive, recently swarmed...

[Snapper]

Hello All

My original hive swarmed a couple of weeks ago and, fortunately, I managed to catch the swarm and put them in another hive (I'd planned on getting another colony soon anyway, so I wasn't too worried). I left the original hive alone until today, and when I made my inspection I found several Queen Cells which looked as if they'd been chewed open. I was expecting to see queen cells, I was just a bit surprised that they looked like a queen had emerged from all of them. Is this normal?

I have pics, but I need to post more before I'm allowed to post them

 

[Snapper]

Ok, I'm allowed to post pics now ...

 

[VEG]

cant see them

 

[VEG]

ok can see them now they have all hatched normally by the looks, so you have either lost more bees due to caste swarms or one of the queens has killed the other ones.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Great photos!

Dusty

 

[Alf20]

Do you have enough space in your original hive? May need to add a super so the bees don't feel too over crowded.
The qc would have come out at around the same time if formed at a similar time (when you state chewed open, is it a neat circle or cut down the length of the cell?), it may be too early to tell but can you spot a queen?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Some of them look as if they've been ripped open - could have been one emerged and 'dealt with' the rest?

 

[Snapper]

Great photos!

Dusty

Dusty

They mostly looked like neat, circular openings. I didn't spot a queen, but my eye isn't quick enough at spotting them yet.

I already have a super on top, which is still full of foundation that's being drawn out.

 

[Finman]

.
It is quite normal that the colony renew the queen after swarming.

Long time ago I bought lots of swarms. Many of them changed the queen when they settled into hive.

But idea is that the first queen kills other cells. Now in your pictures all queens have emerged. Swarmed again? Strange?

 

[Snapper]

Some of them look as if they've been ripped open - could have been one emerged and 'dealt with' the rest?

Maybe so. I did wonder that, I just thought it would be a bit more obvious if that were the case

 

[Finman]

.
In pictures there are queen cells but no other brood?

 

[Snapper]

.
In pictures there are queen cells but no other brood?

No, not on those frames, which I thought was a bit odd. There was some honey and pollen, but no brood. The frames in the photos were wild comb which were attached to empty frames when I acquired them late last summer. I have now removed them.

 

[oliver90owner]

I left the original hive alone until today, and when I made my inspection I found several Queen Cells which looked as if they'd been chewed open. I was expecting to see queen cells,

I'm not sure what else you would expect. Queen cells pupate for around eight days, so after a fortnight.....

 

[For want of a better word]

Any photos of the ones that the aforementioned queens emerged from?

 

[Snapper]

I left the original hive alone until today, and when I made my inspection I found several Queen Cells which looked as if they'd been chewed open. I was expecting to see queen cells,

I'm not sure what else you would expect. Queen cells pupate for around eight days, so after a fortnight.....

I'm aware of that, but thanks anyway. I'm pretty certain I haven't lost any secondary swarms, so I suppose I was naively expecting one queen cell to have been opened from inside and the rest to have been seen to by the first emerged queen. I hadn't really considered the possibility of several virgin queens running about for a time. First personal experience of queen cells/swarming, so it's all new to me....