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BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: damienpryan on October 26, 2020, 03:57:48 am

Title: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: damienpryan on October 26, 2020, 03:57:48 am: Hi All

I've got a new colony I captured from a swarm about 3 weeks ago.
It now has about 5 frames of brood/necture
But it also has two new queen cells.

I could not find the queen (but did find some eggs).

Is it likely that a new colony will try to throw a reproductive swarm ?
Or is it most likely I'm looking at supersedure cell ?

Cheers

Damien
Title: Re: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: iddee on October 26, 2020, 05:51:08 am: Most hives swarm with the old queen, then replace her after getting established. Supercedure
Title: Re: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: crispy on October 26, 2020, 06:53:37 am: Last wednesday when i inspected the hive and put on the second super i found what i believe was two supercedure cells ,from what i have read it is best to destroy them apparently the bees will use the royal jelly for other things or so a guy on youtube says who is a beekeeper in tennasee U.S
Title: Re: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: iddee on October 26, 2020, 07:40:28 am: That beek isn't too smart. If it is supercedure, the bees know the queen is failing. Destroying the cells will leave you with a queenless hive and soon, a dead hive.
If swarm cells, they will swarm anyway, also leaving you with the above.

When queen cells are found, splits should be made, or nothing done. Any destroying of cells will most likely result in destroying the hive.
Title: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: TheHoneyPump on October 26, 2020, 04:15:20 pm: Quote from: iddee on October 26, 2020, 05:51:08 am
Most hives swarm with the old queen, then replace her after getting established. Supercedure

Damien. For your caught swarm It is this ,
Perfect and natural. Do nothing. You need only get a line on where you can buy a queen, as contingency for if the SC fails.
All good. Make sure they have enough space to expand over the next 4 weeks. Other than that try to leave them alone (stay out) for 3 weeks from the date that you observe those queen cells are capped

Hope that helps!
Title: Re: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: crispy on October 26, 2020, 07:54:35 pm: Hi iddee the beek you talk about is camon reynolds from tennasee bees on you tube , now i dont know this guy personally but he seems to have a number of bee yards and a lot of hives . my bees were going bonkas yesterday we had some warm sun in the arvo ill be checking on them on wednesday to se if my movement of frames is a good idea or not
Title: Re: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: iddee on October 26, 2020, 08:55:25 pm: I don't know him, so nothing personal, but you should never destroy all queen cells. Once they are made, the old queen will be gone 99% of the time. If you remove the cells, you should place some of them in a place to emerge and mate in case they are needed later, as a very least measure.
Title: new colony (queen cells) supersedure cell ?
Post by: TheHoneyPump on October 27, 2020, 03:00:58 pm: We both, and all, need to be mindful of advice of:
destroy all queen cells VS leave all queen cells.
The situation, the condition, the history, the season, all of those details of the colony at the time that QCs are found must come into consideration for the beekeeper to make the correct decision.
- Sometimes the advice for destroying cells is correct.
- Most times the advice to leave cells is correct.
- blanket advice to always leave cells is never correct
- blanket to always destroy cells is never correct

In this case, the OP did an exemplary job of describing the conditions, and history, of the colony. Therefore Iddee was able to give the correct advice.
In a different situation, different colony history, the advice may be different. As is often encountered when talking bees - It depends ....

Imho.