Queen Cells
Caution whenever you find a queen cell.
The first thing to remember about queen cells is that they may be a lifeline for the colony, so do not immediately assume they are swarm cells. The bees usually know best. When we look at queen cells on a frame we might imagine that we can select which is the best to choose by visual inspection. This is not necessarily true.
Below are a few tips to help you identify the different types of queen cells but this is not an absolute science.
The first thing to remember about queen cells is that they may be a lifeline for the colony, so do not immediately assume they are swarm cells. The bees usually know best. When we look at queen cells on a frame we might imagine that we can select which is the best to choose by visual inspection. This is not necessarily true.
Below are a few tips to help you identify the different types of queen cells but this is not an absolute science.
Scientific Beekeeping
info@scientificbeekeeping.co.uk
One cannot say for sure what situation these bees have found themselves in however you may be able deduce from the photo what was probably going on. Beekeepers need to learn pattern recognition skills taking into account all clues from observing the colony in the hive.
In this photo we can see a number of queen cells on the centre face of the frame. If we look carefully (you can enlarge the photo) you can see quite young larvae. The queen has been lost recently possibly through a "beekeeper incident".
We can see nine emergency queen cells. The worker bees have realised she is no longer there spreading her pheromones arounf the hive and they are doing everything in their power to replace her.
We can see nine emergency queen cells. The worker bees have realised she is no longer there spreading her pheromones arounf the hive and they are doing everything in their power to replace her.
In this last image we are probably looking at swarm cells. We assess the whole picture . This frame is solid with brood. The queen cells are on the edge of the frame.
This queen clearly does not need superseding and if we can find eggs on another frame this would clinch it.
We would need to know the whole story but if there were seven or eight frames filled like this then we could understand that the queens pheromones could be very dilute towards the frame edges.
During a good flow of nectar this would be all the encouragement the bees need to reproduce by issuing a swarm
This queen clearly does not need superseding and if we can find eggs on another frame this would clinch it.
We would need to know the whole story but if there were seven or eight frames filled like this then we could understand that the queens pheromones could be very dilute towards the frame edges.
During a good flow of nectar this would be all the encouragement the bees need to reproduce by issuing a swarm
In this image we can suspect supersedure cells (please note the spelling of supersedure, no c). The cells are not on the periphery of the frame. They are made by extending a cell which started as a worker cell. These cells are made when the bees sense there is something wrong with the queen and they decide to replace her. There are a lot of empty cells and of those that are occupied some appear to have drone pupae in them.
In this instance this looks like a planned supersedure but the bees have left it rather late.
In this instance this looks like a planned supersedure but the bees have left it rather late.
