Sealed Queen Cell in Thriving Young Colony?

[dlawr42103]

I have a hive of bees with a queen that is still in her 1st season.

She is laying really well the colony is growing a high rate and thriving. Currently 8 out of 11 frames are stuffed with brood.

They have shown no signs of swarming, their are no Q cups, not many drones, they have plenty of room above.

Today.. I was quite shocked to find 1 capped queen cell! no others, so didn't look like swarming preparation to me.

There were loads of eggs still and Queenie looked in great condition, so seems unlikely they would want to supercede.

I removed this frame and made up a new NUC with it.

.. But anyone any ideas what could have been going on and what should I have done?

 

[REDWOOD]

Depending where on the frame, one or two in the middle of a frame would be supersedure, lots on the edges of the frame swarm cells, if your queen is performing well then you probably done the right thing.

 

[beeno]

I think you have done the right thing too. Methinks it might be a room issue. There are three types of room the bees need.
Room in the brood nest for the queen to lay and that means drawn frames not foundation, room in the super to store nectar and honey and room just for the bees to sit around.
Be interesting to know if the QC produces a queen or whether it is duff.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

be prepared for more QC's if you get another single one I'd gamble on supercedure and let them get on with it - you now (hopefully) have a spare developing in a nuc. But with the queen laying on eight of eleven frames they may be getting a bit cramped.

 

[dlawr42103]

Thanks all for the feedback. I shall monitor queenie to see if her laying changes over the next few weeks and whether or not any more QC's appear. If it was a room issue would it not be more likely to see a higher number of swarm cells around the bottom of the frame, rather than just the single sealed one? Room could be an issue as she does not have much drawn free space available in the brood body, I took a couple of frames out to make up the Nuc but replaced with foundation only.

 

[itma]

I have a hive of bees with a queen that is still in her 1st season.

She is laying really well the colony is growing a high rate and thriving. Currently 8 out of 11 frames are stuffed with brood.

…

.. But anyone any ideas what could have been going on and what should I have done?

How many supers are on the hive?

 

[Swarm]

How many supers are on the hive?

x2.
At least you should have some insurance with the spare.