Queen cells

JordanM · June 23, 2008, 04:35:55 PM

I just came from my hives. I was going to swap the frames but when i was doing this the honeybound frame had queencells on it so i quickly closed the hives back up and came to ask advice. There were 2 cells on the middle frame, one on the side and 1 one the bottom, both on the edge of the comb. CAn you tell me what kind of cells these are and what i should do to this honey bound hive?

Robo · June 23, 2008, 04:58:04 PM

Sounds likes supercedure and not honey bound.

KONASDAD · June 23, 2008, 05:02:10 PM

If they look like peanuts, queen cells. Bullets drone cells. Presuming they are queen cells, thay are contemplating swarming. Its early where you are, so if you want more hives, do a split, placing queen cells in one nuc, and queen right frames in another. I personally take the nuc w. queen cells and place it where original hive was, giving them bees returning from foraging. The hive that was going to swarm now has no queen cells, and a lot less bees and more room. Replace missing frames w/ new frames. They will raise their own queen in nuc, your other hive shouldn't swarm, but might not make surplus honey. They wouldn't have if they swarmed either. For more info, check out MB's site on swarm prevention and splitting hives.

Robo · June 23, 2008, 05:11:16 PM

If you read his other post
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,16227.0.html

I believe he has no brood, so I'm betting the queen is gone. At least that is what I'm speculating since he hasn't answered the other post. I find it hard to believe a package would be honey bound or swarm in 5 weeks, unless one really cramped them.

FYI.... It would be better to keep your whole situation in one post rather that keep starting new post as people won't know the whole story and you will get all kinds of advice based only on part of your situation.

JordanM · June 23, 2008, 06:06:33 PM

I'm pretty sure it is a swarm cell its on the bottom of the frame and i hear supercedure or towards the inside.

I asked a senior beek in my area and he said to go out and cut all the cells out but 1 and add another box ontop.

JP · June 23, 2008, 06:24:00 PM

Quote from: JordanM on June 23, 2008, 06:06:33 PM
I'm pretty sure it is a swarm cell its on the bottom of the frame and i hear supercedure or towards the inside.

I asked a senior beek in my area and he said to go out and cut all the cells out but 1 and add another box ontop.

I agree with Rob, supercedure, I would definitely not cut these cells out or you could doom this hive.

Also agree you should keep the original post going and not add a new one midstream or people will lose interest and or get confused.

...JP

JordanM · June 23, 2008, 06:33:05 PM

Sorry, but i just thought it is a whole different situation now that i have found queen cells.

Robo · June 23, 2008, 08:48:45 PM

Quote from: JordanM on June 23, 2008, 06:06:33 PM
I'm pretty sure it is a swarm cell its on the bottom of the frame and i hear supercedure or towards the inside.

Traditional logic doesn't hold up when your doing foundationless. Unless the frames are fully drawn right to the frame rails. Since the hive is only 5 weeks old, I'm sure the queen was laying as fast as they could build cells, so there was plenty of eggs right on the edge and no need for them to float an egg out to make a queen cell. It is still not clear to me if you have any brood or not. Unless you have eggs or some very young larvae or actually see your queen, my money is still on supersedure.

JordanM · June 23, 2008, 09:28:45 PM

There is a little brood around the edges, that is hatching out. I left the one cell, it looks very healthy and big, i think i actually see a little black head of the queen when i hold it up to the light through the nice white comb, so maybe she will hatch out soon.