I posted a pic on May 8th http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=9330.msg59761#msg59761 (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=9330.msg59761#msg59761) or so ago of a frame with 4 queen cells. It was general consensus that a suppercession was underway.
I did an inspection today and I'm happy to say two of the three hives are doing great, lots of brood, good foraging and I actually watched one bee emerge to the point she had her head out. Her mates weren't giving her any help. One right next to her was just beginning to chew her way out.
In the hive with the suppercession, i found very little brood (not even one full frame) Lots of stored, uncapped syrup and one of those long, downward pointy cells was open and empty, like someone took a can opener to it... I did not locate the queen visually. When I arrived the hive in question was the only one with no activity at the landing pad, although after inspection, there was some.
sorry there are no photos but my camera isn't working.
Questions:
1.) If these cells were at that stage on May 8th, can anyone make a guess when they might have been created?
2.) What should I do about this situation?
As always, thanks in advance!
In the hive with the supercession, with very little capped brood, I would open it up in 3-4 days to look for eggs. If it just hatched it won't get mated for a bit. Remember it takes a while for brood to become capped, so they might have just got rid of the queen a bit before the other queen hatched. Thus, look for eggs in a few days. Congrats on the other hives working out.
Jake
Quote from: Shizzell on May 17, 2007, 02:18:41 PM
In the hive with the supercession, with very little capped brood, I would open it up in 3-4 days to look for eggs. If it just hatched it won't get mated for a bit. Remember it takes a while for brood to become capped, so they might have just got rid of the queen a bit before the other queen hatched. Thus, look for eggs in a few days. Congrats on the other hives working out.
Jake
Thanks Shizzell,
Based on that May 8th photo, can you venture a guess as to when you think she may have emerged?
it's impossible say, somewhere inbetween 1 to 15 days :roll:
from the picture it doesn't show if it's capped or not