Screengrab from inspection video - identification?

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ANDubuis

New Bee
Joined
May 10, 2021
Messages
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Location
London
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I was taking a few frames of eggs and brood from this hive to try and save a another hive.

I took a video of the inspection, and on rewatching I saw this large cell that I didn’t see in person.

I will be inspecting as soon as weather gets okay but looks like a queen cell, no?

4DB3EA81-5ABC-4747-9AC4-DC0430DF4EAC.jpeg
 
i cant quite tell from the photo...it looks more like a q cup to me built onto an older one..need to see the bottom of it to see if open and if anything inside
Yes ... that's what I thought as well ... I'd be having a look sooner rather than later - might just be a queen cup but if it is they are practising for the real thing and need watching....
 
I don’t really like the pattern of this queen and they are certainly building queen cups.

Will be inspecting ASAP, but the weather has been atrocious.

F43BAE66-00C6-4F0E-AB38-50BFAFAE00A2.jpeg
 
I don’t really like the pattern of this queen and they are certainly building queen cups.

Will be inspecting ASAP, but the weather has been atrocious.

View attachment 26052
You've got a few drone cells there - they might know something about the queen and what you are seeing is them starting to think about supercedure .. how old is the queen ?
 
Will be inspecting ASAP, but the weather has been atrocious.

View attachment 26052
Bad weather here but I cannot delay inspections much more. Tomorrow I intend to do tip inspections, and then if indicated might pull a few frames from centre of brood.
Bad angle for photo, but to me it looks a bit too big for just a queen cup. I would get in there.
 
You've got a few drone cells there - they might know something about the queen and what you are seeing is them starting to think about supercedure .. how old is the queen ?
Only her second year.
 
In #1 my eyes were drawn to this bee arrowed, it might be just my eyes because the pic is fuzzy more so when blown up, also the angle and position made me question whether this is a Q ?
4DB3EA81-5ABC-4747-9AC4-DC0430DF4EAC_LI.jpg
 
So I inspected yesterday and it was an empty queen cup!

Some say this is nothing to be concerned with, some say indicative of an intention to swarm or supersede. I will keep an eye on them but no further action required. The laying pattern definitely has me a little concerned.

Any comments welcome!
 
What concerns you about her laying pattern? Looks like your brood is split over two boxes, double brood/brood and half, the drones are on the periphery. There is a distinct lack of stores on those frames though.
 
What concerns you about her laying pattern? Looks like your brood is split over two boxes, double brood/brood and half, the drones are on the periphery. There is a distinct lack of stores on those frames though.

It’s a deep and a super of brood, both with 5-6 frames of bees and brood.

The frames aren’t laid very full, quite patchy. Large amount of queen cups, and large sections of just drone brood that I don’t see in my other hives.

There’s a good amount of nectar and pollen spread across the hive, and the hive is full of eggs. The pattern being wierd could just be a timing thing.
 
When a queen is laying well there is an approximate ratio. Capped open: egg = 4:2:1. This is dictated by the length of time for each stage. Any change shows an alteration to her laying pattern.
 
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