What are these 3 cells?

FlexMedia.tv · August 07, 2016, 07:42:16 PM

The problem I run into when I first started raising bees is I have a hard time figuring out what things should look like so I can look for it.

I keep posting curious pictures I don't know what they are. What are these three cells on the left? Are they pollen cells or drone cells? I think everything else is just honey.

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Psparr · August 07, 2016, 07:47:30 PM

Those look like drone caps.

cao · August 07, 2016, 11:06:58 PM

Ditto. They look like drone cells to me.

GSF · August 08, 2016, 08:22:18 AM

yep, drone cells.

FlexMedia.tv · August 08, 2016, 09:15:35 AM

This is my weak hive. I have 2. To recap, I have 2 brood chambers and I added another super. Mine are all the same size. I have a top feeder and my bees would come up to eat but zero activity on the 3rd box. The other hive I started has filled the 3rd and I added a 4th. This hive with the drone cells mostly just has honey and a bunch of bees. I looked at every frame on the 2nd box, all full except the last outer frame. Sooo, from my books and reading this forum, if I lost my queen, wouldn't I see more drone cells and cells with multiple eggs? If a worker doesn't take over, I wonder why they are making all that honey? They are still flying in and out. I even thought they may have to converted over to the other hive because there are so many there. I'm going to my first local meeting tonight to as questions too. What a learning experience!

Art

GSF · August 08, 2016, 09:20:24 AM

Have you seen eggs, small larva, & capped brood? If so she's still around if the capped brood is worker. I sold someone some bees earlier on in the year. The queen was unmarked and in an eight frame deep. Two of us went through the hive three times and never saw the queen. I found her later, she wasn't as wide compared to the rest of them and she had stripes instead of a carrot.

Michael Bush · August 08, 2016, 10:40:30 AM

Pollen cells look like they have putty in them. Drone cells have papery caps that are dome shaped. Pollen cells are filled somwhere between almost at the bottom, to all the way to the top. But they are not dome shaped.

FlexMedia.tv · August 08, 2016, 11:37:03 AM

Quote from: GSF on August 08, 2016, 09:20:24 AM
Have you seen eggs, small larva

GSF,
Last week I looked at each frame in the 2nd brood box. I couldn't find any larvae or eggs. Just bees and honey. I didn't mess with the first box. My queen is marked but that doesn't mean anything with these blind bat cataract eyes of mine! I did take more pictures that I will try to post later.

FlexMedia.tv · August 08, 2016, 11:45:56 AM

Quote from: Michael Bush on August 08, 2016, 10:40:30 AM
Pollen cells look like they have putty in them. Drone cells have papery caps that are dome shaped. Pollen cells are filled somwhere between almost at the bottom, to all the way to the top. But they are not dome shaped.

Michael Bush,
Those 3 are a bit rounded off and powdery

FlexMedia.tv · August 08, 2016, 03:47:01 PM

I'll try to post a few more pictures

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sc-bee · August 08, 2016, 09:26:02 PM

All frames of capped honey and nectar or feed. Three capped brood cells in one pic...

FlexMedia.tv · August 08, 2016, 10:26:05 PM

Quote from: sc-bee on August 08, 2016, 09:26:02 PM
All frames of capped honey and nectar or feed. Three capped brood cells in one pic...

Sc-bee,
Those are brood cells? I thought I lost my queen and nothing was laying since I didn't see any eggs. Of course she could have laced those a long time ago and took off!

sc-bee · August 08, 2016, 11:48:29 PM

As others have said, looks like drone brood due to the raised caps. How long since you have seen good brood? You say you did not enter the bottom box. They could just be filling the top box as the season closes or during a dearth and these three are left. The bottom box and its condition will tell you more.

>if I lost my queen, wouldn't I see more drone cells and cells with multiple eggs?
Not necessarily. Laying workers do not necessarily have to take over. In that case there would be zero brood and the bees begin to backfill all space with honey as the population dwindles.

> If a worker doesn't take over, I wonder why they are making all that honey?
Sometimes queenless hives make more honey. Some comb honey producer pull the queen in strong hive to make comb honey.

>They are still flying in and out.
Foragers forage regardless if queenless or not. A queenless hive will also gather pollen. Pollen coming in is usually a good sign (paired with some other indicators) but pollen coming in, it is not necessarily a sign of being queen right.

GSF · August 09, 2016, 10:14:54 AM

I can't make out if that top picture has eggs or if it's the glare.

sc-bee · August 09, 2016, 10:31:47 AM

Quote from: GSF on August 09, 2016, 10:14:54 AM
I can't make out if that top picture has eggs or if it's the glare.

Glare

FlexMedia.tv · August 09, 2016, 01:04:36 PM

GSF,
I think that's just the back of cell.

Sc-bee,
Thanks for some answers. I just arrived on location of my hives. 45 min. Away from my home. I'll look at the bottom today.

Thanks,
Art

FlexMedia.tv · August 10, 2016, 11:30:52 PM

I think I finally know what a queen cell looks like. I'll re-post but what do ya think?

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