What to do with a queen cell

[beeno]

Hi all just inspected my colony today and found an open queen cell with half grown larva should i destroy it or leave it could they still swarm this late or will they superseed the old queen i brought as a nuc at the begining of July i was told she was a 2012 queen she is still laying eggs but the brood nest is now alot smaller which i presume is because it is now september i havn't got spare nuc box to split and re unite later .

Hi Newtobees,
Me too. I missed a QC and my only colony swarmed 4th Sept. last year. Had 4 virgins and none of them got mated. I have torn down two QC on a Nuc and on a swarm this year and got away with it! I know what I would do. All these people who say let nature take its course will they have a mated Queen for you when you realise it did not happen. I don't believe that bees know what they are doing any more than humans do. If you have confidence in your queen go for it.

 

[Finman]

All these people who say let nature take its course will they have a mated Queen for you when you realise it did not happen.

well said. As we have seen, nature has not been on our side this spring and this summer. Do you believe that it is next autumn and next winter?

 

[oliver90owner]

I have torn down two QC on a Nuc and on a swarm this year and got away with it! I know what I would do.

A good call? I think not.

A further week down thje road when they build another, and then what? Introducing an expensive(?) bought-in queen at this time of the year is not necessarily as straightforward as for some (the one hive owner problem again).

Best advice is from the majority this time. It would be what I would do (but I agree - that it would not bother me if the supercedure failed). But I am not a one hive owner and neither are you?

 

[Finman]

.
We have a writing just now on our forum: " XX sells some ten mated queens because xx does not need them. Price 25 euros/ queen.

This times is good to change the queen. Beekeepers make their last queen changes. They cast away normal queens and give younger queens instead. So do I. I too join several hives and from that I get normal queens. I perhaps own now 15 extra queens which I must destroy during next two weeks. I drop my hive number from 40 to 30.

During feeding hives accept well new queen.

 

[beeno]

I have torn down two QC on a Nuc and on a swarm this year and got away with it! I know what I would do.

A good call? I think not.

A further week down thje road when they build another, and then what? Introducing an expensive(?) bought-in queen at this time of the year is not necessarily as straightforward as for some (the one hive owner problem again).

Best advice is from the majority this time. It would be what I would do (but I agree - that it would not bother me if the supercedure failed). But I am not a one hive owner and neither are you?

I was last year and went down to 0 because the bees new best.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Newtobees is probably about a mile from me. I'll be uniting 2 or 3 colonies so I expect to have a 'retired from service' queen available soon and he has my 'phone number.

The bees may yet tear down the queencell - I've seen that too at this time of the year.

This is a good illustration of why one hive makes things difficult. That's all my wife thought I'd have!

 

[Newtobees]

Thanks Hebeegeebee i think i will have a look again early next week and see whats happened to it, i have torn down several Q cells in the last two weeks so they seem determined to keep making them and i think they will just make another.