queen cells this late in the year?

[tonybloke]

I gave a mate a lift to his out apiary today, and observed as he did an inspection on his 2 hives. 1 of them had 2 Queen Cells!!(with royal jelly and young larvae) He knocked 1 of the cells down, didn't know what else he could do? any ideas folks?

 

[oliver90owner]

Q+ or Q- ?

Regards RAB

 

[tonybloke]

Q+ (queen not seen, but eggs and Unsealed and sealed brood) cells were in middle of comb nr a hole through the midrib, one each side of the hole.

 

[oliver90owner]

Good laying pattern? How many colonies does he have (you said 'out' apiary)? Full or nucs? If enough, I would be thinking about possibility of spreading those bees around if it is not Q+ at the next inspection in three days time, or re-queening.

If the queen is there and laying a good pattern, I would remove the QC at this time of year - not going to be any drones around in another couple of weeks or so - unless they know better......and cross my fingers she goes through the winter, or re-queen. Later inspections to follow. Keep us informed.

Regards, RAB

 

[ameldridge]

Sorry to hijack but...

Q+ and Q- means what with regards to the queen? Q+ queen is present, Q- a queen is not present?

I've had a quick look in the A beginers list of acronyms. (should that not be beginners? ) thread and can't see it there.

Cheers, Ron

 

[taff..]

Sorry to hijack but...

Q+ and Q- means what with regards to the queen? Q+ queen is present, Q- a queen is not present?

exactly that

 

[ameldridge]

Thanks for the confirmation taff..

 

[tonybloke]

1, he's got 2 hives at the location.
2, we will have to do a fuller inspection to find Q on monday.
3, will keep you all posted on progress.
4, they have plenty of space to store, and a gal of syrup on the hive, but are not filling up the hive as mine are/have.
not as full a hive of bees as either of mine? ( nowhere near as many bees)

 

[oliver90owner]

he's got 2 hives at the location.

Yes, you told us that in #1, but clouded the issue by mentioning 'out-apiary'. My understanding, when using that term, is there is an 'in-apiary'. That is why I asked how many colonies (in total) he had.

nowhere near as many bees as either of mine

If it is that bad, she is likely failing to do the bizz so they are replacing her.

But we always have to add the rider that some bees are more prolific layers than others.

Decisions 'on the ground' are always easier than over the net. The more information you dribble through increases my feeling that she needs replacing. I don't think I would wait any longer than absolutely necessary at this time of the season to do it, if that is a possible option. But you may have some more information hidden up your/his sleeve?

Regards, RAB

 

[taff..]

can I add my similar situation please.

In one of my 2 colonies I've just found a single capped Q cell, it right on the bottom of a frame in the middle of the brood nest which is over 4 frames, I saw the queen and noticed that one of her front legs seems to be a bit damaged, she is still laying.

I was going to replace the queen in this colony at the end of last month but found that she was a supercedure queen that hadn't started laying yet, that was on the 25th Aug.

when I was taking her out of the colony to replace her I tried to get her into a queen cage, this was because I wanted to keep her to practice wing clipping but dropped her in the grass and couldn't find her again.

she made it back to the colony and started laying and I assume this was when she damaged her leg.

I've gone for the do nothing option for now, I didn't want to knock down the Q cell and I didn't want to remove the q incase the virgin doesn't get mated.

what sayeth the masses? should I be considering anything else?

 

[oliver90owner]

If she is damaged they will want to replace her. As OP, problem is time of season.

Regards, RAB

 

[nigel]

can i add my similar situation please.

In one of my 2 colonies i found 3 capped Q c This is my first season as a beekeeper,not quite sure what to do,.could this mean there is a problem with the queen having Q c so late in the season if i have to re queen could you explain how i would go about it,and where to obtain a queen.

 

[tonybloke]

today's update
we went through the hive in question today, found eggs, unsealed and sealed worker brood, but couldn't find the queen. (we went through the hive 3 times, after removing the 6 frames that had honey sealed in them)
she'd be good at hide'n'seek!!!!
knocked down the largeest Q.C, and also another one they'd started which had royal jelly in it.
will have another look in there in a couple of days.