Supercedure or bust

[Willardx]

Hi all.
I have my first colony and things are afoot. I have had the colony for about 6 weeks. I noticed a sketchy egg laying pattern straight away and it was suggested that the queen was getting on a bit. On July 2nd i noticed a couple of queen cells, in the middle of the brood combs. Was gonna put a pic in there but cant work it out.
One week later on the 9th the cell is empty and partially knocked down. There are only a few capped brood and no obv eggs or larva. Loads of pollen and honey in the brood box.
I had another look today, all the capped brood are out so i have no brood at all, no obv eggs and the middle few frames seem very light and cleared of honey.
Meanwhile the bees seem calm and I have the best part of a superand a half of honey up top.
Is this the timeframe and runnings of a supercedure going to plan? If so, how long is it before i should expect to see eggs?? At what point do i panic and beg a frame with uncapped eggs from somebody? I have a pic of queen cell if it helps and you can tell me how to give it a url.
Many thanks.

 

[Anduril]

You say 2 cells and then 1. It sounds as though one has emerged and killed the queen in the other cell which has been partially torn down. Check towards the end of this month for eggs

 

[Willardx]

Think I got my dates wrong there. It was the 2nd when I noticed the cell was hatched.

 

[Anduril]

OK check around the 23rd July at the earliest.

 

[kevrhcfag]

OK check around the 23rd July at the earliest.

Why that long?

I have queens emerged 29th & 30th that are already laying. If weather has been good in the area should be laying before then, also size gives it away a little.

 

[Anduril]

Agreed they could be laying earlier, but some beginners start panicking and start requesting test frames. At least they will be able to spot young brood by leaving it a bit longer and gain confidence. Also I don't know the weather situation in that area.

 

[Willardx]

Cheers for the responses weather is good here one of the warmest parts Of the UK. You are quite right about the potential to panic tho.I Will wait another few weeks. Ta

 

[colinc]

In my AS colonies I have seen a few eggs once at 2 weeks but so far I have always had lots of eggs by 3 weeks, they are not going to swarm on anything before 3 weeks so you can reduce your work load and the slim chance of squishing a queen in inspection by leaving 3 weeks.

Just my thoughts.


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[Willardx]

Happy to report that I have a queen and tons and tons of brood now. Thank goodness. They have moved a lot of honey out of the brood box so there's lots of room. Is there much incidence of swarming immediately post supercedure or can I relax a bit now

 

[B+.]

Is there much incidence of swarming immediately post supercedure or can I relax a bit now

That would depend on how big the population of adult workers is. If its very strong, they could swarm, but, if there are just enough to look after the developing brood, they will stay (This is covered in "Mating biology of Honeybees").