[abingaman]

Brief Background:

• Purchased Nuc beginning of May 2019
• 10 frame hive
• 2 brood boxes and a honey hopper installed
• Nuc should have been sold 2 weeks prior to me purchasing it sell told me

Upon inspection last night I noticed one supercedure cell at the top of the middle frame in the bottom brood box. I checked all of the other frames and this is the only supercedure cell. I noticed a few queen cups but they all looked to be empty. I wasn't able to look in the supercedure cell but it wasn't capped.

I'm new to beekeeping and I'm not sure what a single supercedure cell means. I spent a lot of time trying to find an answer online and what I have found said there are usually multiple supercedure cells not just one. I have a queen in the hive and I think she is laying eggs based on the pictures I took (included below). I wasn't able to find the queen when I was inspecting the hive but when I looked at my picture I think I located her. Our weather has been up and down here in Pennsylvania with hot days then cold fronts move through and chill things down and we have experienced a lot of rain. I read in the forum that this might cause the bees to make a cell because crummy weather makes the queen slow egg production.

The bottom brood box has a feeder and two empty frames that are starting to be drawn. The upper brood box has two frames that are starting to have comb drawn on them. I noticed pollen and some honey on the outter upper corners of the brood frames in the bottom brood box so I added a honey super because I read that when they start making the white wax that they are ready for a honey super.

I'm trying to be a responsible bee owner and I'm not sure what to do or what I'm doing wrong.

 

[AHudd]

Sometimes in a nuc or especially a package the bee population becomes unbalanced and the bees perceive this as a failing Queen and begin supercedure cells. I would not destroy it unless you are sure your Queen is present and laying.
I think you may be giving them too much room. Bees prefer to be somewhat crowded. If your second brood box isn't about 70% drawn I would remove the super. If you are placing boxes of foundation you can add them sooner, but if it is drawn comb that has had brood in it I would be very careful about giving more room than the bees can patrol. It is an invitation to moths and SHB.

This is a good forum for info. Keep reading and good luck.

Alex

 

[abingaman]

Thank you for the information! I wasn't sure how fast I was supposed to move on adding boxes. I will pull the honey super off tonight when I get home from work.

On another note, I used to live in Sebastian County Arkansas. I loved Arkansas, other than the roaches that used to come up from the Courthouse basement when they sprayed. My wife and I are hoping to move back as soon as our parents move on to the next life. You couldn't ask for friendlier people and the food was amazing!

 

[AHudd]

I'm a Texan, originally. We're liking it pretty well here. I am having trouble adjusting to all the rain, after living in the almost desert.

Alex

 

[Fivej]

Welcome! I would also take the super off. Do not be concerned about making honey. Concentrate on making them grow and draw out brood frames now, honey supers later. How is the bee population and how many frames of brood? Depending on that, I might move the feeder and a frame up to your upper deep if they are drawing the last 2 frames in your bottom deep. Put the frames they are drawing on either side of the broodnest. Replace frames on outer sides with foundation. Keep rotating frames they start to draw towards the broodnest. Just make sure you keep all the brood frames contiguous to each other horizontally and vertically. They tend to make supercedure/emergency cells but do not always use them. I would not be concerned. J

 

[birddog]

In short as long as your finding plenty of eggs compared to the drawn comb space available feel free to knock the cell down

 

[JWPalmer]

Am I the only one that finds the lack of capped brood and larvae on the frame with the supercedure cell to be a problem? Were there other frames that were covered in worker brood? I have see similar frames in a laying worker hive so I am curious as to how the rest of the hive looks.

 

[Gray Goose]

Am I the only one that finds the lack of capped brood and larvae on the frame with the supercedure cell to be a problem? Were there other frames that were covered in worker brood? I have see similar frames in a laying worker hive so I am curious as to how the rest of the hive looks.

I generally either leave the cell as the bees know what is going on better than I do , or split it out for increase, if it has a larvae in it. If the bees decided to replace her, and I take it, they just start over. Agree the frame had a few scattered cells of brood.
GG

 

[crofter]

Am I the only one that finds the lack of capped brood and larvae on the frame with the supercedure cell to be a problem? Were there other frames that were covered in worker brood? I have see similar frames in a laying worker hive so I am curious as to how the rest of the hive looks.

No you are not the only one. What happened to the other larvae that should have been surrounding the selected one. I cant see the logic of the bees having started a queen cell on an isolated larvae. So either why were there not similar surrounding larvae or if there were, why were they not successful.

 

[JWPalmer]

I hope abingaman posts back with an update. That cell should have emerged by now and then we will know if was good one or not.