Queen cells & queen cups - again !!

[wilderness]

I managed a quick inspection this afternoon of my 2 colonies. One colony had a couple of queen cups (small cup shaped and less than 1cm in height) with nothing in them.

Hanging in a gap between the foundation and the frame edge was what I would call a queen cell. It was approx 2cm long and had a knobbly outside but NOT sealed. I poked my hive tool in to see if there was anything inside.

Nothing!!

Why would they have built a substantial structure with nothing in it? I'm 100% sure they haven't swarmed as I'm fairly sure this cell was not there 5 days ago and I saw my marked (but not clipped) queen.

Could they have supersceded and this was the empty queen cell before they had ripped it down?

 

[Poly Hive]

Why would they have superceeded n a matter of days?

Most likely it was a cell that was in progress and you damaged it last visit. Or it was an old one from last year.

Play cups mean nothing. Not until they have a larvae in them. Eggs mean nothing too.

PH

 

[wilderness]

I more than likely poked my hive tool in it last time just to check!

I thought the queen laid eggs in the cups then the bees built the rest of the cell around the developing larva. The size of this cell is such that I don't think the queen would be able to get her bum to the base of the cell.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Eggs mean nothing too. PH

??

 

[VEG]

I think Ph meant that its only when you get larvae in a cup that it actually becomes a queen cell. You can get eggs in cups that come to nothing.