I posted this on another forum so forgive me if you've already see it but I could really use some more insight.
I have a 5 frame nuc that I moved over to a new hive today. Last Saturday during it's inspection everything looked great but today when I was moving them over, I found two swarm cells. Here are pictures:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e189/Scoobie10/Bees/9_164.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e189/Scoobie10/Bees/9_161.jpg
I saw eggs, pupa and larva so it would seem that there's a laying queen. This must have happened in the last week and I'm not sure what to do. they weren't cramped for space as they had one whole frame that they had basically done nothing with, just a little honey. Why would they be raising new queens with a laying queen this late in the year? Do I leave them to chart their own path or should I take the cells out?
I went ahead and moved them over to the new hive and am currently feeding them 2 to 1 syrup.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
Kes
You titled this Supercedure cells. If they are Supercedure cells then the bees think there is something wrong with the queen and she needs replaced. NOT that they are going to swarm. Those cells are usually at the very bottom of the frames
Jerrymac, you're right. That's because I think they are supercedure cells and not swarm cells (even though one of them is on the bottom of the frame). My question is, what do I do about it?
If the bees think something is wrong with the queen I (my preference) would let them raise a new one.
It's a supercedure cell. Leave it alone and let nature take it's course.
Sincerely,
Brendhan