stenibee
New Bee
after my hive swarmed yesterday. i have inspected today and found one capped queen cell on one frame and two on another frame one of which has a hinged end. any suggestions would be grateful. do not want a cast swarm.
queen cells
- Thread starter stenibee
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MuswellMetro
Queen Bee
you have a virgin queen in the hive from the emerged (hinged) cell
I would cull the two other QC and leave the hive alone for four weeks, but if you want an insurance Nuc, you could try rasing another Q from the two Q cells
I would cull the two other QC and leave the hive alone for four weeks, but if you want an insurance Nuc, you could try rasing another Q from the two Q cells
REDWOOD
Queen Bee
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from there are queen cells in my hive booklet
Step 7 - My hive has swarmed and there are emerged and
sealed queen cells present.
Investigation - This sounds like a rather tricky situation but
this is not the case. If the hive has already cast swarmed it has
happened and there is nothing you can do about that - it is also
difficult to be sure unless you have seen or caught the swarm.
The best indication is a marked reduction in the number of bees
in the colony. If it has not cast swarmed then you are in luck and
it is usually possible to prevent this happening.
Remedial Action - Examine the remaining sealed queen cells
which are probably on the point of emerging anyway. You may
find that they start to hatch as you look through the hive.
This happens because your blundering around has distracted
the ‘warder’ bees that were keeping queens penned in until the
colony wanted them to emerge. The bees have a plan which
you are now going to upset! Investigate the unsealed cells
carefully using a knife blade or scalpel and, if the queens are
mature and ready to go, help several of them to walk out into the
hive - the more the merrier! The point is, that you do not know
if there is already a virgin queen (or queens) loose in the hive
so you are making sure by letting the so-called ‘pulled virgins’
go. Having had your fun releasing virgin queens into the hive,
you now have to do what it says in Step 5 and carefully destroy
ALL the remaining sealed queen cells. Releasing all these
queens into the hive at the same time seems to force the colony
to select from the available virgin queens and settle down to get
her mated.
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf
Step 7 - My hive has swarmed and there are emerged and
sealed queen cells present.
Investigation - This sounds like a rather tricky situation but
this is not the case. If the hive has already cast swarmed it has
happened and there is nothing you can do about that - it is also
difficult to be sure unless you have seen or caught the swarm.
The best indication is a marked reduction in the number of bees
in the colony. If it has not cast swarmed then you are in luck and
it is usually possible to prevent this happening.
Remedial Action - Examine the remaining sealed queen cells
which are probably on the point of emerging anyway. You may
find that they start to hatch as you look through the hive.
This happens because your blundering around has distracted
the ‘warder’ bees that were keeping queens penned in until the
colony wanted them to emerge. The bees have a plan which
you are now going to upset! Investigate the unsealed cells
carefully using a knife blade or scalpel and, if the queens are
mature and ready to go, help several of them to walk out into the
hive - the more the merrier! The point is, that you do not know
if there is already a virgin queen (or queens) loose in the hive
so you are making sure by letting the so-called ‘pulled virgins’
go. Having had your fun releasing virgin queens into the hive,
you now have to do what it says in Step 5 and carefully destroy
ALL the remaining sealed queen cells. Releasing all these
queens into the hive at the same time seems to force the colony
to select from the available virgin queens and settle down to get
her mated.
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf
