Queen Cells

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bees make queen cells for three main reasons
to replace a queen that's on the way out.
to multiply the colony (swarming)
to replace a queen that suddenly died/went missing.
The position of the queen cell/cells (QCs) has little significance as to the colony's intentions
The only QC you can identify with any conviction is an emergency cell as with these the bees have to extend a worker cell outwards then downwards to float the larva into a Queen size cell which points downwards
when bees are trying to supersede (replace an old, faulty or knackered queen) they tend to build the QCs around the periphery of the cluster to try and keep the queen from stumbling across them, as the cluster is three dimensional, depending on what frame the QC's are built on, they could be tucked in against the sidebars, fixed to the top bars or hanging off the bottom bars. They will sometimes be found on the face of the outermost frame, but anywhere on the comb, not specifically in the middle. Bees tend to build fewer supersedure cells than swarm cells but this is not always the case, so never assume supersedure if there are more than one QC. They may also swarm with just one QC in the hive.
In general, bees make more QC's when they want to swarm as the objective is to create multiple secondary swarms headed by virgins. these can be found anywhere on the comb. as I said before, sometimes bees will swarm leaving only one QC HOWEVER once the swarm leaves, being suddenly queenless the remaining bees will panic and start building as many emergency QCs as they can
As an aside:

• The first swarm to leave the hive (and this can be headed by a virgin in some cases so never assume it's headed by a laying queen) is called a Prime swarm
• the second a cast
• the third a colt
• the fourth a filly
• a swarm emanating from a colony who started as a swarm that season is called a maiden.

With all the QC's listed so far the bees will have had some kind of advanced notice of the need for a new queen so the cell will have been prepared before the egg was placed there, and will just extend downwards at an angle from the very base, they will sometimes remove the cells below the QC as well - so that the cell is even more vertical, however if there is a sudden loss of a queen for whatever reason, the bees will need to float a small larva out of the horizontal worker cell and into a larger vertical cell therefore the emergency QC is obvious as it will grow outwards from the face of the comb and then downwards. Emergency QC's will appear on the face of the comb wherever the bees can find a suitable larva. They will try to start with the youngest larva possible but will often 'promote older larvae.
**it's worth noting that with EQCs (Emergency Queen Cells) that the bees will chose more advanced larvae to 'convert' into queens than they would normally, therefore you will encounter QC's capped much earlier than the 'regulation 8-9 days written in the books, so you may find sealed queen cells appearing on a previously clear frame well within your seven day inspection window - bees will also do this if your method of 'swarm avoidance' is to just tear down QCs at every inspection and hoping the problem will go away**

 

[Rockingod]

Well done JBM....Even I learn't something there. Thank you.

 

[Patrick1]

Bees make queen cells for three main reasons
to replace a queen that's on the way out.
to multiply the colony (swarming)
to replace a queen that suddenly died/went missing.
The position of the queen cell/cells (QCs) has little significance as to the colony's intentions
The only QC you can identify with any conviction is an emergency cell as with these the bees have to extend a worker cell outwards then downwards to float the larva into a Queen size cell which points downwards
when bees are trying to supersede (replace an old, faulty or knackered queen) they tend to build the QCs around the periphery of the cluster to try and keep the queen from stumbling across them, as the cluster is three dimensional, depending on what frame the QC's are built on, they could be tucked in against the sidebars, fixed to the top bars or hanging off the bottom bars. They will sometimes be found on the face of the outermost frame, but anywhere on the comb, not specifically in the middle. Bees tend to build fewer supersedure cells than swarm cells but this is not always the case, so never assume supersedure if there are more than one QC. They may also swarm with just one QC in the hive.
In general, bees make more QC's when they want to swarm as the objective is to create multiple secondary swarms headed by virgins. these can be found anywhere on the comb. as I said before, sometimes bees will swarm leaving only one QC HOWEVER once the swarm leaves, being suddenly queenless the remaining bees will panic and start building as many emergency QCs as they can
As an aside:

• The first swarm to leave the hive (and this can be headed by a virgin in some cases so never assume it's headed by a laying queen) is called a Prime swarm
• the second a cast
• the third a colt
• the fourth a filly
• a swarm emanating from a colony who started as a swarm that season is called a maiden.

With all the QC's listed so far the bees will have had some kind of advanced notice of the need for a new queen so the cell will have been prepared before the egg was placed there, and will just extend downwards at an angle from the very base, they will sometimes remove the cells below the QC as well - so that the cell is even more vertical, however if there is a sudden loss of a queen for whatever reason, the bees will need to float a small larva out of the horizontal worker cell and into a larger vertical cell therefore the emergency QC is obvious as it will grow outwards from the face of the comb and then downwards. Emergency QC's will appear on the face of the comb wherever the bees can find a suitable larva. They will try to start with the youngest larva possible but will often 'promote older larvae.
**it's worth noting that with EQCs (Emergency Queen Cells) that the bees will chose more advanced larvae to 'convert' into queens than they would normally, therefore you will encounter QC's capped much earlier than the 'regulation 8-9 days written in the books, so you may find sealed queen cells appearing on a previously clear frame well within your seven day inspection window - bees will also do this if your method of 'swarm avoidance' is to just tear down QCs at every inspection and hoping the problem will go away**

Excellent, great explanation. you should write for the other side