Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

ocba - Re: [ocba] Queen Cells

ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Jeff Bollinger <jeff01 AT email.unc.edu>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Queen Cells
  • Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 10:20:11 -0400


Interestingly enough, I installed two packages with marked queens about
9 days ago. I checked on them yesterday and one hive kept the marked
queen although the other made an entirely new queen! She seems smaller
than the missing marked queen I paid $1 extra for (guess because she's
younger/smaller ovaries) but I did verify she was laying eggs.

The hive with the younger queen has much fewer eggs than the other hive,
but she is still laying in a nice pattern. I did NOT find any
supercedure cells, nor queen cups which was a mystery to me. I can't
figure out how a new queen was cultivated, had a mating flight, and
started laying eggs all within one week!

Jeff


On 5/12/11 2:16 PM, Randall Austin wrote:
> 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




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page