Workers moving eggs?

[chrissv]

I had my hive swarm on be a couple weeks ago, and I had a bunch of swarm cells along the bottoms of the frames in the top brood box.

It brought to mind a question about swarm cells: do workers build the swarm cells along the bottom bar, and the (not yet departed) queen lays eggs in them, or do workers move an egg from a different part of the frame and put it in the swarm cell?

I think for a mid-frame supercedure queen cell they can just build out from an existing laid egg, but wasn't sure about bottom frame swarm cells.

Thanks! - Steven

http://stevensbees.blogspot.com

[Velbert]

queen cells
I had my hive swarm on be a couple weeks ago, and I had a bunch of swarm cells along the bottoms of the frames in the top brood box.

It brought to mind a question about swarm cells: do workers build the swarm cells along the bottom bar,YES and the (not yet departed) queen lays eggs in them,YES or do workers move an egg from a different part of the frame and put it in the swarm cell? NO

I think for a mid-frame supersedure queen cell they can just build out from an existing laid egg,
IF BEES HAVE A QUEEN CELL STARTED FROM A WORKER CELL ON THE FACE OF THE COMB IT'S NOT A SUPERCEDURE but an emergency cell the queen has become missing or killed
but wasn't sure about bottom frame swarm cells. they also will build EM-Q cell along the bottom also

Thanks! - Steven

http://stevensbees.blogspot.com

[Michael Bush]

>do workers build the swarm cells along the bottom bar

Yes.

> and the (not yet departed) queen lays eggs in them

Yes.

> or do workers move an egg from a different part of the frame and put it in the swarm cell?

No.