Transplanting one queen cell

[Anthony Appleyard]

How often does a beekeeper fínd a hive "hopelessly queenless" and remedy the matter by transplanting a single queen cell with a queen egg or queen larva in, or two or more at a time? In a book about beekeeping about the 1960's I read that at the end-of-winter cleanout a beekeeper was watching a hive's entrance to see what rubbish they were bringing out, and one bee was (with some difficulty) carrying a large dressmaker's pin that he had used the year before to pin a transplanted queen cell to one of the combs.

 

[Finman]

How often does a beekeeper fínd a hive "hopelessly queenless"

Very rarely. No brood, no queen, no hope.


If a swarmed hive has any more young larvi, and the queen disappers on mating trip, there is then no hope.

If the colony has lost its queen in winter, or the queen cannot lay after winter, no hope either. But I have not seen worker laying after winter.

 

[Anthony Appleyard]

The queenless hive presumably still had brood and workers to tend them, but no eggs or larvae young enough to become a queen. The beekeeper likely transplanted more than one queen cell.

 

[Finman]

The queenless hive presumably still had brood and workers to tend them,

Impossible to quess what they have.
Open the hive and you see.