Possible Superceedure??

[bbgould]

Hi,

This is my first season with my own hive and wanted some reassurance regarding what I think might be a superceedure.
My queen is 2011 in standard national brood and the colony has been doing really well depsite the bad weather. I have 4 supers on 3 full and one in the process of being drawn out.
There is a large hole in the second frame in the brood box which I dont understand why they have done this, and have not bridged it.

I have found 1 queen cell which I have left. Its position is on the outside frame a couple of inches from the bottom. There is only 1 cell which has been sealed. All other frames are clear of queen cells. There is plenty of brood, but no eggs.

Is this a superceedure or a swarm cell? I have left well alone and would appreciate some reassurance that this is the right thing to do.

Thanks in advance

Mark

 

[Andy Duff]

Supersedure cells are drawn off the foundation and use an existing egg. Swarm cells are usually (LOL) on the frame, but can be anywhere in the hive.
The hole is there because the bees did it for reasons best known to them

 

[Andy Duff]

And I forgot to add well done on the full supers you jammy/lucky.........

 

[Tom Bick]

I think you have done the right thing.

I have a similar situation queen not found, no eggs, and one sealed QC not exactly the classic supercedure as the old queen and eggs absent but she may be there and the bees have reduced feeding her so she has stopped laying? or she was failing and it came more sudden than the bees expected?

For me its one of the times you stand back and let them get on with it and hope you called it right.

 

[bbgould]

Thanks Andy, would be lucky if I didnt have to keep buying the supers & could extract the honey

Should have put in my last post, queen is still present. She is clipped.

 

[Andy Duff]

Thanks Andy, would be lucky if I didnt have to keep buying the supers & could extract the honey

Should have put in my last post, queen is still present. She is clipped.

IMHO for what it's worth, I would recomend you have at least 2 hives, then when you think you are queenless or have a dud queen you can pop in a test frame from another hive and let the bees sort it out. A set of spare frames and a couple of nuc boxes can help too. Joining a local beekeeping group can also a great help if you need a second opinion.

If you need some quick advice about something you are unsure of, a photo posted on here can help too.

Good luck and keep going

 

[susbees]

Thanks Andy, would be lucky if I didnt have to keep buying the supers & could extract the honey

Should have put in my last post, queen is still present. She is clipped.

What do you think the stores are? You did extract any OSR, right ??

 

[bbgould]

The OSR is all gone, the bees used this up during all the bad weather. The bees have plenty of forraging and the stores are mostly made up of bramble, privet & lime... I think???