Released a queen from capped queen cell

[beesleybees]

Hi guys,

Cut a long story short, I removed a queen cell to discard only to find that she was fully developed and moving. I left her inside the cell and she eventually worked her way out. I put her in a mating apidea with a few nurse bees

I'm unsure how old the cell was when I went to discard it, but I'm assuming that the queen 'hatched' much soon than normal.

Can you tell me if there are any downfalls to the queen hatching sooner? Sldi. Why does the queen have to stay in the cell for the full period when it shows that she is fully developed much earlier

 

[clv101]

Are you certain she has emerged in much less than the 'standard' 16 days from egg to emergence?

 

[Outlander]

Are you certain she has emerged in much less than the 'standard' 16 days from egg to emergence?

Agreed, she was ready and you were lucky to be in there at the right time. Had three about to emerge last week when checking two I new about third I had missed. Used all 3.

 

[Oscarmonster]

That happened to me once. She disappeared and bees raised another from test frame a few weeks later. I guess you will have to sit and wait it out.

 

[drstitson]

remember workers often hold virgins closed within their cells. the disturbance of manipulation disrupts the happy band and voila out pop the girls.

if the queen is moving around and looks well developed she's ready.

 

[enrico]

Happened to me today too, one hive swarmed, went to remove one queen cell, virgin popped out so left her in hive, went to remove another and out popped another so put that in nuc waiting for queen cell to emerge and disposed of queen cell. They may destroy her but maybe not! Worth a try. So I now know I have two virgins. Will check again in a few days to see if they are still there! It actually happens quite a lot when removing queen cells after a swarm.