I need helppppppp!!!

[Chef Isaac]

Ok.. so I candled the queen cells tonight. What am I looking for? Should the "bee" take up the whole cell length? I took two apart to look and learn and saw a very whitish bee.

[jean-marc]

Well, they were good up until the time you took them apart. You can "tinkle " them, gently rock, shake the cells and you'll feel the pupae inside. At that point you know they are fine.

Jean-Marc

[Chef Isaac]

I did that too. I tinkled them which was a gentle rock or shake and the pupae moved side to side.

Does the pupae take up the whole queen cell?

[tecumseh]

the chef ask:
Should the "bee" take up the whole cell length?

tecusmeh replies:
definitely no.

much like in determining the condition of the hive from casual observation (for example simply popping the lid) you are looking for anything that is out of the ordinary, ie an extremely small queen or a queen lodged at one end of the queen cell. the candeling is not foolproof, but simply allows you to toss away the obvious rejects without employing the resources of a mating nuc. ' they tell me' that if you watch the soon to emerge gueen long enough you can see them turn and move. I cannot image a commercial cell producer would spend that much time on one queen cell, but it does seem like an interesting thing to watch if you had the time and opportunity.