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Do they move them or not?

9K views 47 replies 13 participants last post by  Bizzybee 
#1 ·
I have seen the argument a few times but never saw that a conclusion was reached that bees will relocate larva to queen cells in the hive. I personally can't say that they do or don't. What I do know is that while grafting one day, I lifted a larva from a cell while grafting at the hive and hesitated slightly as I cleared the cell for a bee passing by. She noticed the larva on my tool and wasted no time plucking from my tool and placing it back in the cell. I did peck her on the head for being a pain in my tail by the way. :)

What say ye wise and knowing beeks.............
 
#2 ·
I believe they will move them if need be. People also claim to get drone brood above an excluder, which could be attributed to laying workers or drone eggs/larva being moved past the excluder by worker bees and deposited in more drone friendly locations.
 
#5 ·
Answer a question with a question; why would they? What circumstances would trigger that behavior? JMO, but I see a big difference between returning a larvae that "fell" out of a cell (so to speak) than selecting one to move to a cell (supecedure I'm assuming) to raise a queen.
Rick
 
#6 ·
Can think of several reasons why they may? There has been argument that no they can't or no they won't for some reason. From what I saw, seems they certainly can easily. When time comes to swarm, who decides? And who puts the larva in the cups?
 
#8 · (Edited)
The first time I came across this question was when I was looking through the International Bee Research Associations (IBRA) Bibliography of Beekeeping when I came across a Paper from Chekoslovakia. This is an old question which will live on just like the second shooter in Dallas when JFK was killed.
 
#10 ·
Bizzy - You're full of it - everyone our age (yes you've dated yourself by quoting a very old commericial)knows from watching the owl it takes TW0HOO

Then there are the legends of bees "stealing" eggs from another hive to raise a queen.

International Beekeeping Research Associations Bibliography of Beekeeping - Funny - I've been meaning to read that one, sounds rivieting!!!!!!!!!!
 
#11 ·
so are you saying there is no question that bees will move larva. and that the only thing in question is why?

No,,,,,I have no answer as to whether they do or not. Just posing the question,,,why would they when they have other means. But, bees are bees and do surprising things:) Maybe I'm taking this too seriously. I agree my phrasing was poor:)
Rick
 
#12 ·
Huber went to great lengths to put bees in a position where they needed to move eggs. They never did. They REmove eggs and consume them, but they do not move them. I know of no documented case of bees moving eggs. I've never heard a scenario where there wasn't a better explanation that did not involve moving eggs.

Here is one of many of his experiments on that particular subject:

http://www.bushfarms.com/huber.htm#commonbeesdonot
 
#13 ·
Now Joel! I never said I wasn't full of it!! LOL

And now that you mention it I remember those arguments about egg stealing. I also remember talking to the Honeyman once about having a hive show up with a queen when there wasn't any way there could have been viable eggs to make one. But I vaguely remember the incident. Maybe he does but I doubt it? Probably not even fair to mention it.

Michael, I'll have a look at what you have! Thanks! I've wondered if anyone had done any real work with the question before? I understand Huber tried everything possible, but maybe that was conceivable as they saw it? But I apparently produced a suitable situation that caused a bee to move one. Purely unintentional I can assure you but the bee none the less addressed the issue readily. So I still ask the question. Because it clearly isn't an issue that larva fall out of their cells on any kind of regularity I'm sure. But the bee dealt with it as if it were a natural thing to do.

Gotta admit, it's not such a wild idea to explore........ Or that it's anything with much value but hmmmmmm, I wonder? :)
 
#18 ·
I also remember talking to the Honeyman once about having a hive show up with a queen when there wasn't any way there could have been viable eggs to make one.
Biz my mentor told a story about that and yes Mark it is an age old question.

IMO if the can carry seeds from my bird feeder 300 yards then they could carry a larva but I doubt it can bee proven.
 
#20 ·
ive seen queen cells started on old jzbz plastic cell cups in my cell finishers above the queen excluder the queen cell was on a frame that was from a prevous nuc i made the year before
no way for the queen to bee up were the bees were finishing cells glad i caught it before it hatched. they had just started on it wish i had took a picture
 
#26 ·
Maybe. Or maybe something we haven't thought of yet.

Like I asked before, did it make a queen? Or did you answer this already? W/ Number 1?

W/ a healthy laying queen, in other words plenty of queen pheromone, and cells being finished, why would a bee move an egg thru an excluder and into a queen cup? Was there open and capped brood down below?
 
#28 ·
Since Heavenly bees was glad to catch the new cell being worked, one would assume it was destroyed. Number 1 says the queen would have destroyed the finished cells if she was among them. Not sure I follow the reasoning behind the question? Number 3 says there was a happy laying queen below. Why would they do such a thing? Wouldn't it be awesome if bees could talk!! Clueless here? Defies what we think we know. All the better reason to question what we believe to be true............
 
#29 ·
This question is more interesting than it used to be.

What environmental forces would pressure a colony to move an egg? Shouldn't we expect to see a number of eggs moved and not just one? Also, if something was going on which made the colony move eggs, would one expect to see modified cells? Or supercedure or swarm cell cups built on combs in honey supers?
 
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