Why don't bees read the manual!... Don 't make queen cells now!

[Nick Lang]

I have a hive I'm treating with apiguard at the moment...the hive now has two closed queen cells (with bees fussing them) and an open one in it.....I must have missed that on last inspection.....are the hive trying to supercede the queen (she is still in there) perhaps because of the low rate of laying due to the apiguard treatment?.....or are they trying to swarm? (seems a bit late in the year to swarm)

I was thinking of tearing down the QC's .....cos by my maths....they haven't got time to emerge, mate, return and start laying?

Ta muchly

 

[Hachi]

Before doing anything, have you confirmed you still have a queen in the hive?

 

[Nick Lang]

Yeah .... she's there...saw her today when inspecting.

I can't figure why they're putting up QC's

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I was thinking of tearing down the QC's .....cos by my maths....they haven't got time to emerge, mate, return and start laying?

Now is the time to stop fiddling, they usually know what they are doing, if it's supersedure they'll keep the functioning one until the spring - if it's the old queen that's on the way out (and declining fast) and the supersedure fails, there's a chance they're doomed. If you tear down the QC's you've taken away the one hope they have and they're definitely doomed.

 

[pargyle]

Who knows ? They are bees, they were put on this planet solely to provide honey and confuse beekeepers. You would hope that they know what they are doing and interfering in something they want to do is usually unproductive as far as I'm concerned. Knocking down queen cells is rarely, if ever, a good idea - with only one colony you are a bit limited. You don't want to weaken your colony going into winter by doing an artifiicial swarm - in these circumstances I might have moved one of the cells into an Apidea with a cupful of bees but it's just meddling at a time when you really need to leave them alone.

One question... have you been feeding them excessively ? Too much food at any time of the season (and we are still just in the season) can promote a desire for the colony to swarm ...foolish though it would be at this time, it's not unheard of.

 

[Nick Lang]

I have left the whole hive as is.....I'll just leave them to it then....this is my second year now and I've found the most difficult part of bee keeping is to know when "managing" becomes meddling.
It's definitely more of an art than a science for sure!

Thank you for you help....it is much appreciated!

P.S. nope....no feeding at all...they have a lot of stores....and a nadired super that was unfinished

 

[Erichalfbee]

There are quite a few reports here if bees doing “stuff”. The advice really is to leave them to it at this time of year. Now is the time to take a weeks break somewhere sunny.

 

[Nick Lang]

This is Wales... it's always sunny here!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I love Wales. I live here.
Next year I thought I might have a week in Turkey at this time of year. Bye bye bees