Sluggish virgin queen found on sealed queen cell...

[deb]

I went through my two hives this morning - and took over 40 queen cells off one of them. I thought they had swarmed about two weeks ago, but there has been a lot of activity reported by neighbours in the last couple of days - and clearly they've had eggs since I left them, as it turned out, unsafe in the knowledge that the old queen had gone.

So - after I had closed everything up, as a tidy beekeeper, I took away all the cells I had removed and checked through them to release any protective nurses. And there was a virgin queen, just on one of the sealed queen cells I had removed. She was sluggish, but appeared undamaged.

I had left two sealed cells in each hive, as I fear queenlessness more than a cast - but nevertheless I decided to put this queen back and see what happened.

I placed her at the entrance and immediately workers were round her. They appeared to groom her and slowly she walked back into the hive.

Perhaps she will prove unviable, and they'll kill her anyway. Or perhaps I've just given myself another swarm to deal with.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Should I be more careful when removing queen cells in the future? Is it likely that a virgin queen will be hanging around sealed cells?

Incidentally - I didn't find any open queen cells in this hive - so either I missed it or it has been torn down already.

 

[susbees]

I only breed from colonies with six or fewer swarm cells. Makes counting easier!