Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: DonMcJr on May 15, 2014, 01:49:44 pm
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Bought a nuc and when I installed it today it was LOADED with bees and had queen cells. Found the queen and put her in the full size hive and put the queen cells and alot of bees in a nuc box and hoping to get 2 hives for the price of one!
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So you put ALL the queen cells into the nuc? Interesting...
Not that I haven't ever dealt with a lot of queen cells this year, well over 30, but wouldn't those cells hatch into all out war in the nuc?
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Hmm, with all those queen cells wouldn't it be interesting to video tape the queens emerging...and maybe patch in an audio of an old Bruce Lee fight scene???? ;D
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Don,
Personally I would pick the best looking queen cell destroy the rest to avoid fighting queens, and possibly losing both, or issuing after swarms.
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Fighting Queens just mean the strongest one will survive! 8)
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Amen, Don. I would never trust just one cell if I only had bees for one nuc. Especially one of my choosing rather than the bees choosing.
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Or the second time she has to fight shes tired from the first fight so the weak one wins... :P
I leave two cells in case there is an issue with one of them, but certainly interested in how this turns out.
Casts leaving the hive? All out rumble in the hive with lots of Piping? Or the first one out runs about and kills her rivals before they can emerge? Can we place bets? ;D
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My bet would be they are kept separate until the workers decide on one, then the workers remove the others and the remaining cells, thus no 2 queens fighting.
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My bet would be they are kept separate until the workers decide on one, then the workers remove the others and the remaining cells, thus no 2 queens fighting.
Thats good information to have.. I have never heard that the bees may make the decision instead of the queens?
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So you put ALL the queen cells into the nuc? Interesting...
Not that I haven't ever dealt with a lot of queen cells this year, well over 30, but wouldn't those cells hatch into all out war in the nuc?
Usually after the first queen hatches the bees will chew a hole in the side of the other queen cells sting the other queen killing her. The workers will then destroy the cells.
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Good deal Don! 8)
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There are also worker bees that will keep virgins from emerging out of opened cells until the bees are ready (for whatever reason) for the queen to emerge. I believe these are called "warder" bees...a UK phrase, I believe.
Ed
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I all ways put 3 QCs when making nuc with QCs never any problems.
2 for 1 what a great deal.
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Also if it doesnt make it the bees go back to the original hive...if this nuc from a nuc makes it ill be up to 6 hives...
Then I have 2 double nucs to make too come July 1st that I am going to try and over winter!
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I knew about warder bees, and have seen vids of them keeping the queens in lockdown. I have always understood that the first emerged queen will sting the un emerged queens, and that the bees THEN dug them out of the cell to remove them.. Interesting flip on what I thought I knew, I'll have to do some investigating for more information. Perfect thing to do while its raining.
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Perfect thing to do while its raining.
Man I installed a Nuc in and Observation Hive today and in a 10 frame today both in the rain! Not by choice of course... ;D
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Lazy, do your research and you will find it happens both ways. The bees don't read the research papers. :P ;D
That's the thing about beekeeping arguments. Most times, both sides are right.
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Lazy, do your research and you will find it happens both ways. The bees don't read the research papers. :P ;D
That's the thing about beekeeping arguments. Most times, both sides are right.
Yeah.... I am going to have to have a talk with my bees about that.....
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I knew about warder bees, and have seen vids of them keeping the queens in lockdown. I have always understood that the first emerged queen will sting the un emerged queens, and that the bees THEN dug them out of the cell to remove them.. Interesting flip on what I thought I knew, I'll have to do some investigating for more information. Perfect thing to do while its raining.
If the first emerging queen kills all the other queens in their cells where do the cast swarms with virgins come from? :)
Ed
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cells emerging at a similar time, or when the queen did not find them for whatever reason, or if they did not fight. I have found three queens in a hive before, more often two. which means the bees didnt kill the other queens either in that particular case.
I have seen bees warding an emerging queen, and I have seen bees "herd" a queen away from another queen being warded, I just have never heard about the bees themselves killing un emerged queens, so its new information, and thus, exciting, need to know stuff!
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36 F it went down to last night???!!! Really???!!! Man this weather is REALLY on my LAST nerve... :no:
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That's a complex society the bees live in...and much we will never know in regards to "why". :)
Ed