inspected hives for first time found open queen cell

Started by LoriMNnice, May 09, 2012, 06:45:03 PM

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LoriMNnice

May 09, 2012, 06:45:03 PM
I inspected both the hives for the first time today because I finally got my smoker  :-D . Yellow hive that I put the nuc in looked fine but there was an open queen cell at the top of a frame.

Pink hive that I put the package in had nice looking straight comb on their foundationless frames I forgot to look for eggs
Lori

hardwood

#1
May 09, 2012, 06:53:41 PM
Was the cell empty and kinda smooth? if so it's just a queen cup and nothing to worry about. Most hives have queen cups just in case.

If it had an egg or larva in it with royal jelly but there was only one it's most likely a supercedure cell.

Scott
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LoriMNnice

#2
May 09, 2012, 07:03:30 PM
I didn't really look in the cell just seen it and went "hey a queen cell" LOL it was kind of smooth and small. I just left it alone. I still don't know what I am really doing yet, I had a whole list in my head of what to look for etc. but I spaced it all out I got busy just looking at everything and admiring it all. :) I will wait awhile and go back in but this time I will really look for what I am suppose to be looking for and not just admire it all.
Lori

FRAMEshift

#3
May 10, 2012, 05:00:38 AM
Quote from: LoriMNnice on May 09, 2012, 07:03:30 PM
I still don't know what I am really doing yet, I had a whole list in my head of what to look for etc. but I spaced it all out I got busy just looking at everything and admiring it all. :)
Lori, you sound like every other beekeeper I know.   :-D   Yeah, it's one thing to know intellectually what you want to do.... what to look for and how to react when you see a particular feature.  It's another thing to be able to do what you need to "on the fly" as you move through your hives.

Queen cups are common.  Some hives build them up and tear them down again, over and over.  As Hardwood said, I think they just want to be ready for anything unexpected.
"You never can tell with bees."  --  Winnie-the-Pooh

JackM

#4
May 10, 2012, 09:29:25 AM
Quotehad a whole list in my head of what to look for etc. but I spaced it all out I got busy just looking at everything and admiring it all.
I hear ya, I even take a camera with me and forget to take pictures I get so involved in it all.  Not like you can jump in the hive every day and what not.
Jack of all trades
Master of none.

LoriMNnice

#5
May 10, 2012, 10:32:09 AM
Quote from: JackM on May 10, 2012, 09:29:25 AM
Quotehad a whole list in my head of what to look for etc. but I spaced it all out I got busy just looking at everything and admiring it all.
I hear ya, I even take a camera with me and forget to take pictures I get so involved in it all.  Not like you can jump in the hive every day and what not.
LOL I had my camera in my pocket and didn't take pictures either.
Lori

BlueBee

#6
May 10, 2012, 11:15:20 AM
Quote from: FRAMEshift on May 10, 2012, 05:00:38 AM
Queen cups are common.  Some hives build them up and tear them down again, over and over.  As Hardwood said, I think they just want to be ready for anything unexpected.
Agreed, but how does an egg get into a queen cup?  Do the bees somehow float an egg out of a normal cell and put it into a queen cup or do they get the queen to lay in the queen cups when they want a new queen? 

If it is the later case, then it would seem like queen cups would not really be the best insurance policy if something happens to the queen.  So why build them?
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