Supercedure cells ?

[Norskegrandma]

I marked queens and installed 19 packages..NWC and Italian..around 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I checked and found queens and good patterns on all but one. In 6 of the hives I found supercedure cells...(both NWC and Italian) What causes this so early -- and what should I do ???????

[jdpro5010]

This unfortunately is not to uncommon for packages. The bees have decided for whatever reason they do not like the queen. It could be because they sense (somehow) that she wasn't mated well enough or maybe she just isn't putting enough pheromone out. The main thing you do is to allow them to supercede her if they want for now. Maybe down the road you consider requeening the hive that is up to you.

[Ravenseye]

Lots of package queens get superseded in the first year. Keep an eye on those hives as they go through the process of replacing the queens and make sure that all goes well. Best not to end up with a queenless hive should something go wrong and, if something does go wrong, it's better to know early on.

[Michael Palmer]

IMO, packaged bees are the worst way to start...but often the only way.

Think about the timeline and biology of a package.

The producer fills the package on day 1.
Ships it on day 2 or 3.
You receive it on day 5 or 6.
You install it on day 7. Maybe.
The queen is released on day 9.
She lays her first eggs on day 10. Maybe.
They hatch on day 31, or later.

Who cares for larvae...nurse bees.
What are nurse bees...young worker bees whose pharyngeal glands are developed.
Pharyngeal glands are used for royal jelly production.
Worker bees from 5 to 15 days old produce the maximum amount of royal jelly.
Older bees can produce jelly, but not as well.

Your package is expanding their broodnest, and raising many larvae.
The youngest bees in your package are more than 31 days when the first brood emerges.

Where are the nurse bees? On the front porch in their rocking chairs. They're aging fast.

And when there aren't enough good nurses to care for the larvae, the colony is out of balance. It's under stress. And who you gonna blame?

Think of it in terms of your young school children. They're on summer break. It's raining. They're bored. There's nothin' to do. And they whine and complain, and take it out on...Ma.

So, when your package is out of balance, and stressed, who you gonna blame...MA!
And they supercede at 2-3 weeks...often about 1/3 do. It's not necessarily a bad queen. It' the biology of packages.

If you can add a frame of emerging brood at about 2 weeks, much of the superceding will be eliminated.

[Tom G. Laury]

Knows whereof he speaks. Calculating the life cycle of the bees will offer many insights. Always add that sealed/emerging brood at two weeks if you have it. Also the cost of Fumagillin is well worth the benefits. Nosema is a leading cause of supercedure in packages.

[tecumseh]

mr laury writes:
Nosema is a leading cause of supercedure in packages.

tecumseh:
couldn't have said it better myself. if you (or anyone) are experiencing excess superscedure rates then nosema is the most likely suspect.