Royal jelly in brood cells

[wilderness]

I had a quick look at 2 colonies today which should have newly mated queens in them. They were the queenless halves of artificial swarms.

I didn't see any eggs or larvae but some of the cells had what appeared to be royal jelly in the bottom.

Is this normal?

I didn't see either queen.

 

[oliver90owner]

Why should they have newly mated queens? Bought in queens (if the halves were 'queenless'? Queen cells left when?

Thes could be newly hatched larvae? When you say you didn't see any eggs, do you mean there were definitely none?

Could be normal. Might not be though.

RAB

 

[tonybloke]

Could be normal. Might not be though.

peach response!

 

[victor meldrew]

Royal jelly in worker cells means they contain larvae! therefore unless the queenless halves have laying workers they should be queen right.

Give them another week, look again and there should be sealed brood (normal brood ie without raised cappings)If so ,then you have mated queens and all should be OK .

John Wilkinson

 

[Mike a]

I had a quick look at 2 colonies today which should have newly mated queens in them. They were the queenless halves of artificial swarms.

I didn't see any eggs or larvae but some of the cells had what appeared to be royal jelly in the bottom.

Is this normal?

I didn't see either queen.

When were they split Wilderness so we can figure out an approximate time line for queens and mating?

If split with uncapped queen cells 3 weeks ago its still to early to have a laying queen. 4 weeks would be better odds although I would say if they were split 5 weeks ago and the weather has been reasonable in your area you could or may expect to see eggs by now.

 

[oliver90owner]

Exactly my point Victor!

Lots of options and little hard information to work on. I hate no dates, times, actual facts, fluffy words and phrases (like 'quick', 'didn't see', 'appeared', 'some').

No details on pattern, number, position. Could easily be pollen, for all we know.

Oh, and btw saying they 'should be queenright when the poster has said the same but may not be right (bought-in laying queens or not?). Perhaps they should have looked harder, perhaps the inspection was so quick and cursory that they did not even look for the queens. Who knows?

I would not go so far as to say that if there were not sealed brood there in a week it would necessarily be a problem. BTW, if they were newly hatched larvae, I would expect to find at least a few eggs for at least 3 days laying time, even for a new queen. Perhaps not many, but at least a few.

All I could say with confidence is there was not enough useful information to give a sensible answer. Thus, 'yes or no'.

RAB

 

[wilderness]

Why should they have newly mated queens? Bought in queens (if the halves were 'queenless'? Queen cells left when?

Thes could be newly hatched larvae? When you say you didn't see any eggs, do you mean there were definitely none?

Could be normal. Might not be though.

RAB

Artificial swarmed on 15 May with unsealed queen cells. This is the first inspection since then.
Didn't see any eggs but can't be sure there were none.

Could be newly hatched larvae but I've not seen the cells like that before.

I'll give them another week and check again to see if is normal - or not.

 

[Mike a]

Could be newly hatched larvae but I've not seen the cells like that before.

Noticeably larger in diameter?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Artificial swarmed on 15 May with unsealed queen cells. This is the first inspection since then.
Didn't see any eggs but can't be sure there were none.

Could be newly hatched larvae but I've not seen the cells like that before.

I'll give them another week and check again to see if is normal - or not.

therefore hatched around 22nd-25th may....only just or not quite yet mated??

eggs would be a week away but then they dont read books

 

[wilderness]

Sorry, don't seem to be getting the detail across.

The cells are normal sized worker cells, not drone cells or queen cups.

The bottom of the cells has what appears to be royal jelly in them. I'm familiar with what eggs look like and larvae. From what John has said they may well be larvae at a point in time that I've never seen (noticed) before.

Only my 3rd season.

 

[Kevi]

Less critism, more support

Lots of options and little hard information to work on. I hate no dates, times, actual facts, fluffy words and phrases (like 'quick', 'didn't see', 'appeared', 'some').

There are many newbies out there, including myself, and it is really off-putting receiving critical and unhelpful replies to queries - We can't all be clever dicks

 

[Mike a]

Sorry, don't seem to be getting the detail across.

The cells are normal sized worker cells, not drone cells or queen cups.

The bottom of the cells has what appears to be royal jelly in them. I'm familiar with what eggs look like and larvae. From what John has said they may well be larvae at a point in time that I've never seen (noticed) before.

Only my 3rd season.

Always difficult to post enough info to answer every question.

I agree with some of the others check again in week and if able take a few pictures of what you see..

 

[MathJ]

Artificially swarmed double brood on same date making 3 nuc's . Today have 2 laying queens and one queenless and aggressive, have put test frame in to see what they do, you might want to do the same.

 

[Midland Beek]

I didn't see any eggs or larvae but some of the cells had what appeared to be royal jelly in the bottom.

When you have queens about to come into lay the workers can do a good job of 'polishing' the cells. Once eggs hatch into very small larvae, the whitish brood food secreted by the workers can really show up against the dark background of brood comb. This can sometimes look as if royal jelly has been deposited in worker cells, when it hasn't.

 

[oliver90owner]

Kevi

it is really off-putting receiving critical and unhelpful replies to queries

And it is more than useless replying in an authoritive manner (being believed by umpteen new beeks as gospel) when in reality the diagnosis is effected on flawed data.

One thing you might learn is that all relevant information is required to give a good accurate response. Try this next time you go to your doctor: just tell him 'it hurts' and see if doctor can diagnose where it hurts, how much it hurts and why it hurts without any useful information!

AND, let's face it - what would you really learn from a guess, or several, from the supplied data. Very little, I would suspect.

RAB

 

[victor meldrew]

Just to iterate,
Egg laid
Day 3 egg hatches
nurse bees add royal jelly,
larvae float in same (hard to see until about day 2 since hatching) .
Nurse bees continue feeding (honey/pollen)
Day 9 cell sealed
Day 21 new bee emerges .

Cheers John Wilkinson

 

[Poly Hive]

They may be getting very well fed. Happens.

PH

 

[Kevi]

Kevi

it is really off-putting receiving critical and unhelpful replies to queries

And it is more than useless replying in an authoritive manner (being believed by umpteen new beeks as gospel) when in reality the diagnosis is effected on flawed data.

One thing you might learn is that all relevant information is required to give a good accurate response. Try this next time you go to your doctor: just tell him 'it hurts' and see if doctor can diagnose where it hurts, how much it hurts and why it hurts without any useful information!

AND, let's face it - what would you really learn from a guess, or several, from the supplied data. Very little, I would suspect.

RAB

It costs nothing to be polite!

 

[oliver90owner]

It costs nothing to be polite!

My reply cost exactly nothing. At least you get the truth. Whether you like it or not, that is the bottom line. You can take it or leave it. Remember, it is worth exactly what you paid for it.

RAB

 

[Hombre]

In point of fact, if you are dissatisfied with the answers given, you are entitled to ask for your money back.

Sympathy, look it up in the dictionary; it comes after sex and before syphilis.