Queen Cell ???

Haddon · May 05, 2011, 12:41:46 AM

This is a cell on honey super cell

Do yall think its a queen cell.

JP · May 05, 2011, 12:44:03 AM

One on the left looks capped, other one was ripped apart.

...JP

njoylife10 · May 05, 2011, 12:46:01 AM

Yep, I agree. Looks like a queen cell.

njoylife10

Kathyp · May 05, 2011, 12:49:34 AM

did you shake the bees off that frame? there are frames with more brood?

joebrown · May 05, 2011, 12:50:45 AM

I will third that! Looks like a queen cell to me as well. Did you have a queen excluder on the hive?

Haddon · May 05, 2011, 02:37:29 AM

That's the hive that decided to swarm on me and I missed 6 queen cells that cut out before I checked the hive but that cell was up in the top of the hive. Then I made up a 2 frame nuc. Problem is its been 3 days since I found it and removed it from the hive so how many days does a queen cell stay caped?

I have a queen coming in the mail either tomorrow or Friday I need to know if I expand that nuc and add the queen or wait on the cell and try making another nuc. So what yall think?

BjornBee · May 05, 2011, 08:25:46 AM

How long has the cell been capped?

I'm betting that the cell is dead. There is no other brood in the area, and this makes me think the queen cell is very old, dead and ignored, or emergency raised from an infertile egg. Regardless, I do not like to see queen cells alone on a frame such as this. It usually ends in failure. Good thing you have a queen coming. ;)

Haddon · May 05, 2011, 11:27:55 AM

I was wondering if it was dead when I found it. If I use that nuc I will just need one more frame of bees out of the original hive to give extra strength. In a nuc with one to two frames of bees can I had another frame of bees with out starting a war well I guess I could spray all the bees with hbh that would make them smell all the same. I could spray the queen too maybe do a direct release naw I will wait to see if the bees war.

Kathyp · May 05, 2011, 11:51:20 AM

you should have no problem adding a frame of bees. i like to take a frame when most of the gatherers are out doing their thing. there will be a few moments of confusion, but they'll get over it.

fish_stix · May 05, 2011, 01:22:49 PM

Haddon; does that hive have SHB?

AliciaH · May 05, 2011, 01:39:57 PM

Haddon: What are the little white things in the cells under the chewed up queen cell? Is it plastic foundation peaking through?

Haddon · May 05, 2011, 04:33:32 PM

Its not plastic foundation it a plastic frame and comb (fully drawn 4.9mm plastic comb )the white is injection ports.

http://www.honeysupercell.com/

The hive this cell is coming out of is from a cutout I did last summer these frames are why the hive survived a late cutout in a drought that and about 40 pounds of sugar along with 30 pounds of their left over honey/nectar that I crushed strained and feed back.

More reason to charge for cutouts one box of hsc should be included in the cost of every cutout. :-D

hankdog1 · May 05, 2011, 04:40:41 PM

how in the world would you go about rewaxing that stuff?

Haddon · May 05, 2011, 05:27:26 PM

Its not waxed when you get it.

This is how I do it get you a extra turkey fryer pot in Mississippi they are everywhere. Now fill with water that is half as deep as a frame is long so 10 inches start heating the pot now put some bees wax in the pot then dip your frames in the pot they will come out with a coat of wax it will even coat over some of the cells but it does not fill the cells.

Doesn't take to long and wax moths hate you from that day on.

There is also a company that makes 5.0 mediums.

Tommyt · May 05, 2011, 09:09:40 PM

How long have you used these fully drawn stuff :?
Long enough to say they work??
do Bees accept them well,or do you
have to do something to push them?
I think I could use some asap
I'm thinking you could make Nuc's fast as heel
then transform them,back the wax foundation
once numbers are up

Thanks
Tommyt

hankdog1 · May 05, 2011, 09:59:33 PM

You don't have any problems with the queen laying in them then? You've got my curiosity stired up but not enough to switch as i have boxes of wired wax foundation laying around.

Haddon · May 06, 2011, 02:38:50 AM

Other people told me to put only the fully drawn stuff in the hive don't give the queen a option well I didn't do that.
I put it in the hive last year I would say in August give or take. First frame of that morning as I said before the hive was a cut out had lots of uncapped honey that I crushed and strained well I took a plan unwax coated frame pour a glob of honey on it and used my hand to force it down into the cells. It took the hive 20 minutes to empty that frame clean that is when I changed plans pulled out the fryer and started coating them with the wax.

With wax coating and no other place to store honey and a ton of sugar water and honey being put on the hive the bees went right to it storing honey in the frames. Now the queen didn't lay in it at all last year but she did have 7 frames of wax and it was later in the year and we had a drought to kill all things living. The fact that she was the fatest queen I had ever seen didn't help with the 4.9 and they where not regressed bees I know that for sure I had seen wild small bees and these where pure large cell Italians. This spring I saw the first signs of the queen laying in the HSC the bottom frames looked just like the wax as far as the pattern of her laying. She didn't like moving into the upper box that much but she did some and the frame in the pic is from the upper box remember I didn't have any super at all on them so there was a lot of nectar in the top box.

I am told that once you get them to go to the frames the first time you have it won from then on you can drop them in any hive you want to regress and you are done.

I like them and found them no harder than plastic foundation.

VolunteerK9 · May 06, 2011, 10:18:29 AM

Too expensive for me. That stuff is pricey. The other downside is if thats all a person used, how would you cut out swarm cells for making splits? Or room for drone cells. I use a lot of small cell, but have quite a bit of foundationless where they can make room for drones. HSC leaves them very little options I think.