A Queen cell where it shouldn't bee

[chux]

I did a cut out in early April. I failed to capture the queen, alive. There was brood in the comb, and the bees raised a new queen. That queen hatched, but never returned from her mating flight. After five weeks with no queen spotted, and no brood, I gave them a frame of young brood and eggs from another hive. I came back a week later and saw a couple of queen cells on the frame I had given them. There were also 2 cells on the edge of the next frame.

I am positive that there was no brood in the hive before giving them the one frame. When I found these queen cells, there were no eggs anywhere else in the hive. There is no young queen just starting up. There was no sign of laying workers. So, where did the egg come from for these two queen cells on the adjacent frame? If this was an attempt to raise a queen from a laying worker's egg, wouldn't I see other eggs in other cells?

Seems to me that those bees may have moved an egg, or young larvae, over to a likely E. cell on the next comb. Wondering what you folks would make of this. I know I have read some of you (who know your stuff) reject the idea that the bees can move eggs or larvae. A commercial beek, my mentor, said that they can move an egg on occasion. I can see know other explanation that makes sense. Help me out. Trying to learn, here.

[iddee]

I have read both ways many times from many very intelligent beekeepers. I have never been convinced either way. Some even say  Italian bees will at times raise a viable queen from an unfertilized egg. I know some bee species can, but does the Italian also do it at times.

I DON'T KNOW.

[Dallasbeek]

Unfertilized egg yields a drone, right?  Fertilized egg yields a female and extra nutrition (royal jelly) makes the female a queen.  Hard to see an unfertilized egg becoming a queen, but like you say, some bee species are able to do it, so....   

[iddee]

And other species, too.

Thelytoky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelytoky

[chux]

I too am unconvinced either way. The real key for me, which points toward the ability to move eggs or larvae, is the fact that there were no other eggs or larvae present on the frames, other than the brood on the one frame I introduced. If there were a laying worker who layed an unfertilized egg that was somehow able to be raised as a queen, wouldn't that same worker have layed eggs in other cells? Even if they were all drones? Curious...

[rwlaw]

I've seen a Q cell on a frame where there was too old of brood to make Q's out of. But this was a case where I had introduced a frame of larvae after 5 days to a hive that I wanted to end the linage on. My mentor explained it as the bees were desperate to keep their genes alive and the Q probably would have been inferior.

[deknow]

Laying worker hives often try to raise queens from drones, I expect that 5 weeks was long enough for laying workers to get started.  If you split those cells into thir own colony you will likely find they don't produce queens.

[chux]

Thanks for the feedback, folks. deknow, I agree that they could possibly try to raise a queen off of a drone egg, but....How many times have you seen a laying worker only lay in two cells of an entire hive? And those two cells are then built out to raise a queen? The lack of eggs in any other cells tells me that it wasn't a laying worker. I saw laying worker issues last year. I know what to look for. At least, I think I do. The minute I think I know something, the bees switch it up on me. 

[biggraham610]

I have had them move eggs in a similar scenario. I am certain they transferred the egg/young larvae because of the location and the frame it ended up on. Which was drawn but had not been in a hive for months. G

[Colobee]

There are  accounts of bees stealing eggs from another hive in order to rear a queen. With that in mind, it doesn't seem the least bit far fetched that they might move an egg within the same hive.

Our bees don't seem to care what we think (or read, or write), sometimes. They just do whatever it takes, sometimes.