Single capped QC at bottom of frame

[StephenT]

This is from the parent part of a Snelgrove 2 modified we did about 2 months ago and so the queen is relatively new. Couldn't find the unmarked queen in the inspection earlier but there was BIAS, plenty of room to lay / store nectar and this single capped QC. They are on brood and a half and this QC was at the bottom of the top box (should have tilted the top box to check last week - doh). They could have already swarmed but we didn't notice significantly less bees. Seems very unusual to just have one swarm cell. Could it be a supersedure QC in this position and what action would people take. Thanks.

 

[StephenT]

Forgot to attach the picture

 

[drex]

Are you sure it is the only one? Looks like a stunted queen cell next to it? I pay little heed to position. Did you see eggs? I would guess supercedure but have been caught out before. If you can find the queen you could always pop her in a nucs for insurance, but if mine, and only one cell I would leave them to get on with it

 

[StephenT]

Thanks for the feedback. I felt I had to do something pretty quick (before reading your comment) as there was the potential for it to be a swarm cell. I went through the hive again in the hope of finding the queen and sticking her in a nuc but no sign of her. No other QCs. There are eggs but not clearly sticking up straight. Indecisive beginner mode took over a bit and I knocked back the cell (and the stunted one) on the basis that I didn’t want them to swarm (assuming they hadn’t already) and they will make further QC’s if need be which I can catch earlier and take a more considered call on. 2nd year beekeeping with 3 hives now is certainly educational.

 

[pargyle]

Thanks for the feedback. I felt I had to do something pretty quick (before reading your comment) as there was the potential for it to be a swarm cell. I went through the hive again in the hope of finding the queen and sticking her in a nuc but no sign of her. No other QCs. There are eggs but not clearly sticking up straight. Indecisive beginner mode took over a bit and I knocked back the cell (and the stunted one) on the basis that I didn’t want them to swarm (assuming they hadn’t already) and they will make further QC’s if need be which I can catch earlier and take a more considered call on. 2nd year beekeeping with 3 hives now is certainly educational.

With a capped queen cell .. they possibly already HAVE swarmed ... the next thing they will do (probably) will be make a load more queen cells. If it was supercedure cell then you have just quashed what they wanted to do.

Knocking down all the queen cells is rarely the answer to any beekeeping dilemma.

You need to keep your fingers crossed that you still have a queen in there that is laying ..

I've seen colonies swarm on a single queen cell - you can't rely on some of the so called 'givens' put forward in the beekeeping books and dogma.

 

[StephenT]

Fingers crossed and I’ll see what are the consequences of my actions are next weekend.

 

[Swarm]

Agree with drex, two there.

 

[StephenT]

I didn’t count the second one as it didn’t look like a viable queen cell. What really baffled me a couple of months ago was the same hive with seven charged QC’s hanging down from the bottom of frames. Did a textbook Snelgrove 2 AS and then they made a new queen from one of the those cells rather than tearing them down in stage 2 of the process. It worked out in the end as we ended up with 2 hives, although I did have to requeen the AS hive as they did her in soon after I moved her across. I’ll ponder it more right now with a nice glass or three of Rosé in my hand.

 

[StephenT]

Inspected yesterday and clearly saw eggs so queen still there. Still can’t find her though. There were a small number of queen cups on a couple of frames and so I marked the frames where they are and plan to inspect those frames again midweek to see if there’s been any change. Don't think they were charged but tricky to see where they were positioned. If they are obviously QC's on the next inspection then need to decide whether they are probably swarm or supersedure and act accordingly (and sensibly). This is the hive that in May had what we thought were swarm cells (6 of them hanging down from the bottom of frames) but after stage 1 of a Snelgrove 2 modified, they used one of the QC’s to make another queen rather than tearing them all down. Any tips would of course be appreciated.