Queen cell keep or not????

[jeannie]

I checked the hives today and in one I found a queen cell supercendance. the hive appears to be doing "ok" several frames not drawn out fully but the super had about the same thing, all but several frames drawn. Now the question is do I leave the cell alone or do I take it out? I'm leaning toward just letting nature take its course and see what happens. this is a swarm put in about late march. What do ya'll think???

[peggjam]

I'd just leave it alone.

[tecumseh]

like peggjam I would leave it alone and simple let mother nature do her thing. if you are still experiencing a drought and if you suspected stores were limited I would add a trickle of feed just to hedge my bet.

[BjornBee]

I'd take the original queen and place her in a nuc box. Let the queen cell hatch and see what comes from it.

In the meantime, the original queen will continue to lay and produce young.

This will allow you to combine later if the new queen...

1)does not emerge
2)emerges deformed or defective
3)does not mate
4)gets killed while mating
5)turns out to be a drone layer
6)etc, etc.....by now you should get the point...

It also would not be the first time a hive swarms from a supercedure cell. I also think that "perhaps", and I say this without knowing your experience level, so take this with a grain of salt...hives usually (not always) have more than one cell. For them to have only one cell, they are playing slim odds.

Having the old queen as a backup regardless of whether you get a good queen mated, purchase a queen, or some other scenario...is good beekeeping management strategy.

I have found that about 1 in 4 (25%) of hives that go through requeening, ends up with problems, that without beekeeper intervention, leads to a dead hive in one way or another.

You have the ability to protect your assets, have a backup queen for last resort options, and its also good experience to make a nuc, play around, and use this experience to build upon your beekeeping skills.

I think doing nothing is the last choice I would make.

[Troy]

I agree with BjornBee.

My experience is that a high number of queens do not make it for one reason or another. My experience is that at least half the time the queen does not get mated and get back to start laying a good pattern. So protecting/keeping the existing queen is important. Put her in a Nuc box with at least one frame of bees and some capped brood.

[jeannie]

thanks, I hadn't thought about putting her in the nuc and letting the cell hatch. I really didn't look at all the frames, this cell caught me by suprise. (didn't expect to see one) just really spot checking to see if honey bound. jThe weather here has gone from totally dry, no rain for 90 days, to raining everyday. Some things that bloomed earlier this year are looking like they will bloom again and golden rod is coming up way early. Everything and everyboady is confused temps have been very low hi's in the low 80"s for JULY!!!!! I am by far still a novice and learing by the seat of my pants every day, this is my second year and have grown from 1 to 12 hives in a year.

I'll give it a try!!

thanks again

[longrangedog]

Be careful when you build your small nuc to hold the old queen. If you don't get the nuc far away from your yard and reduce the entrance to one bee size you are setting the stage for getting the nuc robbed out. It can happen quickly.

[peggjam]

If they are trying to supercede the old queen, they will do so whether she is in the hive, or a nuc.

I have a purvs bros queen that is in this situation, so I removed her to a nuc, she has a nice brood pattern, and they now have supercedure cells in the nuc as well.....I can only guess that her pheromones arn't high enough....this time I will let nature take it's course.

[Riki]

I'd first certify myself about the number of queencells and if there's any already open; if yes, let it go!

[stangardener]

i've been letting them be, but i like the advce about transfering the queen to a nuc and closely observing that the daughter survives and then performs well.

i've been letting them be because i understood that the virgin would emerge, gain strength, fly and mate and not pose a threat to the mother unless she was mated, returned to the hive and able to kill her.
does this sound correct?

[peggjam]

In supercedure cases anything can and does happen. I have found most of the time that the mother/daughter live in peace until the mother eventualy fades away and dies.....but there are also times when the mother is killed by the workers, or the virgin.