[BeeHoosier]

When you have a hive that is being re-queened via a queen cell, they will typically be waiting roughly 12-20 days until the new queen will be laying. What stops the colony from backfilling the broodnest with nectar/pollen leaving the new queen few open cells to lay in when she finally starts laying? Especially during a flow, the bees may have minimal brood to tend to without the queen laying eggs everyday so more bees can divert their attention to pollen/nectar gathering and fill cells with that. Does this limit the new queen or cause issues or is it not a concern?

 

[AR Beekeeper]

When a queen has mated and is about ready to begin to lay the workers will empty cells of nectar and relocate that nectar to other areas of the hive. This is commonly called "drying" the cells and can easily be seen when looking at frames of nectar, the area of dry cells surrounded by cells full of nectar catch the eye.

It is up to the beekeeper to furnish the bees space to place the removed nectar by giving the bees a super, otherwise the bees just extend cells and create a "fat" area on the frame and place the nectar there. If no space is added then a congested brood nest will lead to swarming, so it can be a cause for concern.