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Offline don2

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Queen cells
« on: March 31, 2015, 05:17:43 pm »
Did I miss something? A week ago yesterday I removed the Queen and several frames of bees and capped brood. I left as many frames with eggs and young brood. Today I found several capped Queen cells. This is day 8, right? I found one cell with a larvae that appeared to be only 2 to 3 days old. is this unusual? shouldn't all the eggs I left already be hatched and sealed? d2

Offline OldMech

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2015, 12:45:41 am »
The fact that they made queen cells tells me there was no queen, OR, they had replaced their OLD queen with a new one, and thats the one YOU took, so the OLD queen is still in there..  I have on numerous occasions found the old momma queen laying in the same hive as her daughter.
   So, you can HOPE you were mistaken, and that the three day old egg molted into a larvae, and it was 5 days old instead of two or three.
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2015, 09:36:22 am »
>Did I miss something? A week ago yesterday I removed the Queen and several frames of bees and capped brood. I left as many frames with eggs and young brood. Today I found several capped Queen cells. This is day 8, right? I found one cell with a larvae that appeared to be only 2 to 3 days old. is this unusual? shouldn't all the eggs I left already be hatched and sealed?

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm
Well, if you do the math there could be larvae that are about to be capped (worker cells typically are capped on day 9).  I assume by "2 to 3 days old" you mean after they hatched (which happens on day 4) so that would push your estimate to 6 to 7 days old from when they were laid.  An egg on the frame you put in eight days ago would be 8 days (one day older than your estimate).

Now assuming it's smaller than that (like recently hatched larvae) then perhaps you have some laying workers...
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Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2015, 05:05:07 pm »
The box in ? has 3 capped  Queen cells now. Now I will leave them be for a couple weeks. If everything goes well I will have 4 colonies from one. May even get a box of honey from this colony. Most all the worker bees returned to it. But that left plenty of house bees and capped brood in the splits. The mother hive was 4 mediums boiling over with bees. They would have swarmed for sure and could still do it. I'm pleased with the results, so far. d2

Offline rookie2531

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2015, 08:38:54 pm »
The box in ? has 3 capped  Queen cells now. Now I will leave them be for a couple weeks. If everything goes well I will have 4 colonies from one. May even get a box of honey from this colony. Most all the worker bees returned to it. But that left plenty of house bees and capped brood in the splits. The mother hive was 4 mediums boiling over with bees. They would have swarmed for sure and could still do it. I'm pleased with the results, so far. d2

What do you mean, 4 from one? Did you split them before and have 3? Why not divy up those cells and have more than 4?

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2015, 10:46:17 pm »
     Not meaning to cut you off short, These 3 cells that are in the mother hive, {the one I took the splits from} are on plastic foundation all on the same frame. Go ahead and cut the cells off if you like, I am satisfied with what I have. d2

Offline rookie2531

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2015, 12:57:00 am »
No problem, cut me off anytime.  I was just thinking, That's what I did last split. But if that's all you want, great. I wouldn't risk cutting off plastic anyway. Hope you much success with it.

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2015, 03:34:36 pm »
Well, one out of three isn't bad, so far. the jury is still out on the other two. this one showed up in the mother hive. I know she was not in there all along because there was no eggs or brood for the given time. d2

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2015, 06:11:55 pm »
As I said in another post. I put a frame of eggs/brood in what I believe to be a queen less nuc. If they make queen cells, what would be the day to put a cage over the cells? Provided they make more than one. d2

Offline rookie2531

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2015, 09:35:06 pm »
As I said in another post. I put a frame of eggs/brood in what I believe to be a queen less nuc. If they make queen cells, what would be the day to put a cage over the cells? Provided they make more than one. d2

My opinion would be 10-11 days after that day you did that.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2015, 07:57:03 am »
That is cutting it too close, you may have just missed the first hatching queen. You have 3 days as eggs then the bees are feeding the larvae royal jelly for 3 days. Some time on the 3rd day they stop feeding them royal jelly. So, if they picked a larvae that was 6 days old and the temperature was just right the whole time she could hatch out on the 15th day and you would have lost all of the other queens.
Jim
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Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2015, 01:11:35 pm »
I had planned on checking them Friday or Sat. If they are fully capped on that day I will go ahead and put the safty cages one. I haven't ordered my #8 mesh wire yet. I had a couple cricket pails that were shot except for the wire. I am assembling the cages today. Will keep y'all updated. d2

Offline rookie2531

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2015, 07:46:55 pm »
Great to learn from people like you Jim, i always thought that they would not pick any more than 4 days old, I'll have to remember that one for sure.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #13 on: April 27, 2015, 11:44:11 am »
Rookie,
I'm glad it helps.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline sc-bee

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2015, 11:26:38 pm »
I will have to dig my beeworks queen rearing video up. If I remember correctly on a split rearing queens he enters on the 4th day and destroys any capped cells. Why? Because if hatched on day 3 + 4 = 7 and a cell should not bee capped at this time. So if capped by day 4 the cell capped were not feed properly have a good chance of producing an inferior queen vs one that was not capped when you entered on day 4 and feed extra royal jelly. Hope I got it right, I will have to dig it up and review.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2015, 03:05:46 pm by sc-bee »
John 3:16

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #15 on: April 28, 2015, 02:36:34 pm »
Well it is looking better than it did. I checked the hive I put the brood in. there is no sign, none, of queen cells. The bees are very quit and gentle. in the other nuc I did see some eggs in the bottom of the cells. none on the sides and no cells with more than one egg. They will be left. I will see what I have next Tuesday. Tomorrow will be the end of the 3rd week after the Queens emerged. We have had mostly nice days for the last week. d2

Offline capt44

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #16 on: May 09, 2015, 11:53:52 pm »
I know folks say cut the queen cells out to stop swarming and I say it's a mistake.
Figure, The hive got crowded so they went into the swarming mode and made some queen cells.
You cut out the cells and 16 days later the hive swarms.
The queen leaves and you have a hive that is queenless.
I never remove all of the queen cells, swarming is a natural thing.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2015, 09:19:19 pm »
Took a look in the hive I have been adding brood to today. I found a cell cup that has a larvae in it. they have not changed the shape and size yet. does this look good? or will the larvae be too old. The frame of was put in last Monday, a week ago. It had plenty eggs on it. d2

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #18 on: May 14, 2015, 06:22:10 pm »
Got 2 queen cells in the hive I have been adding brood too. d2



Should I split this hive? it is wax foundation and one of the cells is in the middle of the frame. New wax. d2
« Last Edit: May 14, 2015, 07:12:58 pm by don2 »

Offline iddee

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #19 on: May 14, 2015, 09:58:35 pm »
Only split it if you have 10 deep frames covered in bees, or more.
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Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #20 on: May 16, 2015, 09:25:40 pm »
I re-read my entries and the replies. There must have been some misunderstandings as to what I did. On the 24 of March I split the only overwintered hive I had. I "removed" the queen myself, along with a few frames of capped brood and a couple frames of food.  {a week} later I had queen cells, as I expected I would. 3 frames had cells, I removed 2 of these frames, each had 2 cells. Made my 2 new nuke's, The frame I left in the mother hive produced a queen which is doing well. The queen split off is also doing good. After I gave the two nuke's time enough to show if they had a mated queen or not is when I found eggs in the one but not the other. I added a frame of brood to the one that had no eggs. a week later I added another frame of eggs/brood and got two queen cells. Now,  I found the capped queen cells this past Wednesday. How long should I wait to check to see if I have a laying queen? d2

Offline rookie2531

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #21 on: May 16, 2015, 09:38:04 pm »
I would say the day you added that frame, and then 30-35 days later.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #22 on: May 17, 2015, 12:37:06 am »
I'll second that.
Jim
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Offline drjeseuss

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #23 on: May 18, 2015, 02:15:14 pm »
Be VERY careful that you don't fuss with them during their sensitive days.  I have one I pulled by mistake.  I was VERY gentle with the frame the whole time, and returned it as soon as I noticed the cell.  Still, when I checked on her day after hatch, she had bad wings, unable to attempt flight.  This may have been me, maybe DWV, maybe something else...  in any case, do be careful while they are changing.  I don't have any other signs of DWV in my hives, so I blame the handling.  Sensitive days are from capping day to about 5 days after.  She will emerge about 7 days after capping (day 16 total).  Day 5-6 (14-15 days total) is usually when cells are moved to nucs, just prior to emergence.
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Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #24 on: May 29, 2015, 09:54:30 pm »
Checked it today, she is a nice one. Finally, it took 2 month and 2 frames of brood added. They got a queen on the second frame of added brood. So I now have 10  medium frames of bees with a new queen. I say if you have a colony that loses the queen, add a frame of brood a week if you can not come up with a queen asap. d2

Offline rookie2531

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #25 on: May 31, 2015, 09:25:13 am »
That's cool, its always a good feeling when you get one laying. Congrats.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #26 on: May 31, 2015, 10:39:07 pm »
Nice job Don.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #27 on: June 01, 2015, 10:27:41 pm »
I back trailed all my actions from the day I made my split till the end. I think I found why my two nuke's failed to get a queen. I moved the queen to begin with and let the mother hive make the cells. when I did the split to divide  up the cells I used a wheel barrow to transport the two splits, there was a couple good jolts en route to the new location. The parent hive was the only one that ended up with a queen with out any trouble.  Still learning.   d2 :wink:

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #28 on: June 02, 2015, 05:52:25 am »
I back trailed all my actions from the day I made my split till the end. I think I found why my two nuke's failed to get a queen. I moved the queen to begin with and let the mother hive make the cells. when I did the split to divide  up the cells I used a wheel barrow to transport the two splits, there was a couple good jolts en route to the new location. The parent hive was the only one that ended up with a queen with out any trouble.  Still learning.   d2 :wink:
Don,
The queen cells have certain times when they are very sensitive to movement, even turning them on their sides damages their ovaries. They need to bee within a couple of days before hatching before you can move them.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #29 on: June 12, 2015, 01:50:19 pm »
Checked my queen today. Been two weeks from first seeing her. solid capped brood on one frame, partial on another, saw her again, closed it up. :happy: d2

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #30 on: June 12, 2015, 10:58:57 pm »
Way to go Don.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline don2

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Re: Queen cells
« Reply #31 on: February 29, 2016, 12:48:45 am »
Checked it today. doing fine. added another box.

 

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