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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: catherinelguerrero AT gmail.com
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Queen Cells
  • Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 14:16:16 -0400

Catherine,

For what it's worth, you have done what I would do. Your description does sound like it is probably supercedure rather than swarming, based on the fact that the cell is in the center of the frame rather than the bottom and that there is only one cell (usually bees create lots of swarm cells, but only a few supercedure cells).

It isn't unusual for a new package of bees to want to replace the queen with "one of their own". That's a bit silly because the new queen will be the daughter of the old one, but who knows what goes through the mind of a bee? I would leave it alone and see what happens. You may very well end up with a well-fed, well-mated new queen that may be better than the mass-produced, early-season queen you started with.

Let us know how it goes!

Randall Austin

On 5/12/2011 12:20 PM, catherinelguerrero AT gmail.com wrote:
Hello,

I am a beginner bee keeper, and I have two hives that I installed 3 lbs
packages in on April 18th. In my inspection yesterday I found a single capped
queen cell in one of the hives. It is toward the center of the frame.

It is actually the more quickly growing of my two hives, although they still
have a lot of room to expand. I am not sure what to do with it. There are
eggs, uncapped brood and capped brood present. The laying pattern looks okay,
although I am comparing it online pictures. My last inspection was 10 days
ago, but I don't know exactly how old the cell is.

> From what I read it looks like a supercedure process, but I know those
rules aren't hard and fast. I left it there because I figure they know better
than I do, but I would like be ready to try something if it is swarm
preparation. I was hoping someone might have some advice for me.

Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

Catherine Guerrero
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
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