Author Topic: 4 or 5 queen cells  (Read 2327 times)

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Offline danl

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4 or 5 queen cells
« on: April 11, 2015, 04:20:55 pm »
Opened one of my hives today its about 3 weeks old installed new package 3 weeks ago. Today there are 4 or 5 queen cells on face of comb on two different frames. I saw some larvea and some capped brood as well. Could not find the queen. Are theses supersedure cells or emergency cell. And what should I do. Was thinking about leaving it alone and seeing if they work it out themselves. Any advice is appreciated. Also I saw no eggs .
« Last Edit: April 11, 2015, 04:21:42 pm by danl »

Offline iddee

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Re: 4 or 5 queen cells
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2015, 04:34:57 pm »
Yes, they are supercedure cells. Yes, leave it alone and they should be fine, if this is your only hive. If you have several hives, you could pull some nucs and make use of those extra queen cells.
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Offline kebee

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Re: 4 or 5 queen cells
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2015, 07:05:27 pm »
 Welcome danl to the forum, I know you are going  to like it here, a lot of old timer in the bees and you just heard from one of them, so listen to him.

Ken

Offline danl

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Re: 4 or 5 queen cells
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2015, 07:51:11 pm »
Will do Ken it was good to meet you this week.

Offline Perry

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Re: 4 or 5 queen cells
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2015, 08:52:20 pm »
 :welcome:
Good advice so far. It is not entirely unusual for package bees, new queens, and sometimes even nucs after they've been moved to have supercedure take place. It seems to occur a little more often as of late. I have made up nucs and added new queens, had them released and accepted, only to have them let the queen lay a bunch of eggs and then immediately try to replace her. Go figure.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: 4 or 5 queen cells
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2015, 09:05:10 pm »
Good advice from Iddee, and what the others said as well...
   I bought ten packages to try them out last year, and had eight of the ten supersede. So I am no longer surprised when I hear the same thing happening to others...
   As stated, let them do it..   You gain a little bit of local genetics when the new queens mate with the local drones, and  gain that much ability to overwinter...
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Offline riverbee

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Re: 4 or 5 queen cells
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2015, 09:16:16 pm »
hi danl and WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

supercedure cells (iddee), and seems to be typical with packages (perry). 

here is a good reference on queen cell identification for you in the future:

Queen Cell Identification ~ There are Queen Cells in My Hive-What Should I Do

again, welcome to the forum and keep us posted on the progress!
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