telling a emergency cell from a swarm/supercedure cell

[FordGuy]

I believe swarms cups are usually along the lower part of the frame, while supercedure cups are more central in the frame. But I have been seeing mid mounted cups with no eggs and that get no attention besides development of the mouth into a robust cell. Someone mentioned these may be emergency cells. I'd like to get more information on how bees use the different kinds of cells, and what my management response should be. (somehow I feel that just cutting all cells off as "swarm cells" may be a mistake.)

Any help appreciated.

[Dave W]

FordGuy . . .

True "emergency cells" are made from existing worker cells containing larvae. If what you are seeing are "mid mounted cups with no eggs", I'll guess they are for supercedure.

Remember, "supercedure" is a V-mite symptom.
Have your counts been high?
Whats your counts now?
How old is your queen?


Supersedure occurs when queen’s physiological and behavioral activities are substandard;
 Egg production slows down.
 Pheromone levels are reduced (usually an aging queen).
 Injured queen.
• Robbing (very stressful on queens) is believed to stimulate supersedure cell production.
• Frequently, the bees will replace (supersede) queens of subnormal performance even before the beekeeper senses a problem.
• Daughter queen may often coexist (lays eggs) w/ ailing mother. Often not noticed by beekeeper unless queens are marked.
• Supersedure is likely to take place among package bees about 3 wks after installation and may be prevented by giving package a comb of emerging brood w/ adhering bees about 2 wks after installation.
• Working new colony too frequently may cause supersedure. Don't open hive more than once a week or sooner than 5 days from time of installing package.
• Queens infected w/ Nosema may be superseded. If colony supersedes one after another (about every 2 wks) check for Nosema disease. Bees are unable to supply queen w/ desired amount of queen food, so they assume queen is no good, hence the beginning of supersedure.
• Supersedure can take place at any time but most often occurs in late spring or early summer.
• Frequently old queens are superseded in spring during heavy brood rearing season when it’s so necessary for queens to lay to their maximum capacity. This reduces hive population and in turn reduces honey crop.

[Michael Bush]

An empty cup with no egg means nothing. It means the bees are just being prepared for the possibility.

[FordGuy]

Mr. Bush, is it then wise to leave the cell for sudden loss of a queen? What happens if she lays an egg in it? it gets capped then do we have a swarm or two battling queens? Kind of like if Elton John and Richard Simmons duked it out...

[Michael Bush]

Bees don't swarm because a queen emerges. You can put a queen cell in a queenright hive and often end up with a two queen hive.

A laying queen and a virgin have little interest in one another.

If the bees are trying to supercede a week queen they will supercede her. If they don't want the queen cell they will tear it back down.