Queen Cells

[beyondthesidewalks]

I've been reading my 1975 edition of the Hive and the Honeybee and on page 56 in the Queen section it basically says that 50% the time the hive doesn't use their queen cells they have made. If true, that means that 50% of the time swarming is not iminent and we really don't need to do anything.

It could be that everytime we do something about the queen cells we might not really be accomplishing anything at all unless we're getting much better than 50% results. With this in mind I feel better about my decision to not worry about swarming and saturate my area with swarm traps. That way I at least have a pretty good chance of catching my own swarms. If I want I can recombnine the swarm with its parent hive or another weak hive. I can also use it for a trap out. The key is that it isn't a big loss and didn't cost me much effort. Instead of working against the bees I worked with them and still achieved my end.

[Ravenseye]

Without having read the article, I'd say that "queen cells" could be a lot of things. Emergency, supersedure, queen cups or swarm cells. I would venture to say odds of use vary considerably depending on the type of cell. I agree that one can over-manage a colony. On the other hand, managing to produce splits and be able to harvest honey are two major efforts when keeping bees. Surely, if you want bees to do their thing and you're not keeping them for honey, etc., then not doing anything except attract the swarms is fine. If instead, you have harvest goals in mind, you're better off managing them for the harvest. So, you'd be doing things that give them space, without which, the odds of swarming go up dramatically.

Your last sentence is great and I love the approach. If what you do fits with your goal and meets the needs of the bees that you manage, then full speed ahead!

[Michael Bush]

A "queen cell" by most beekeeper's definition is one that has a larvae in it or is capped (and assumed to have a larvae in it). With that definition I would not say 50 % is accurate, but if they count cups (as mentioned above) then yes, I'd say the number is probably low. Probably 75% or higher would be more accurate gauge of how often they don't use them.

I would not assume they are swarming unless I see evidence that the hive is bursting at the seams or at least very strong and the brood nest is shrinking (the cells around emerging brood being filled with nectar) and there are queen cells, probably on the bottom or edges of comb. Then I would assume they are swarming and do a split. Otherwise I would assume they are superseding and leave them alone.

[Tom G. Laury]

If they are swarm cells, by the time they are sealed it's pretty much work to change their collective mind. The key to swarm control is to prevent ahead of time by having young queens, plenty space, foundation to draw or whatever.

I think you made a good use of your time by catching what you could easily.

[beyondthesidewalks]

Well, I guess I'll clarify my point in saying that management to prevent swarming needs to come long before the first queen cup is built. Whether it be checkerboarding or some other means of swarm prevention, that needs to happen before the bees are induced to swarm. Once they have made up their collective mind to swarm, to borrow the phrase from Star Trek TNG, resistance is futile.

I see so many beekeepers, fraught with dispair once they see queen cells, sure their bees are going to swarm. That paragraph in The Hive and the Honeybee tells me that it probably isn't necessarily so(That's the hope that the paragraph gives me). If they are going to swarm and have already built queen cells, I don't think there's much we can do to stop them other than swarm for them by splitting the hive or catch the swarm after it issues from the hive.

I like to prevent swarming but as I've said that needs to happen long before the bees have made up their mind. If they have made up their mind well then I'll just let them and catch the swarm. Then I can recombine or start a new hive. I think that cutting out queen cells like so many attempt to do is not a real good idea because you are fighting the bees instead of working with them. I've seen and heard of many problems with human intervention after queen cups or cells are built that normally cause more probs than it resolves.

BTW, I've only caught 2 swarms on my premises and neither of them were from my hives. Most of my swarm trapping successes have been at other peoples places. Hopefully it stays that way.