Do you think these were queen cells?

1254 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Rader Sidetrack, Apr 4, 2014

SallyD

Discussion Starter · Apr 3, 2014

Hi all:
I looked into my hive this week hoping to see queen cells and doing some splits. Since I am still not proficient on finding the queen I was going to do a split and make sure each hive had a capped queen cell in the event I transferred the queen. I did not see any cells. I did notice that when I pulled out several frames that I had broken open some cells on the bottom of frame and could see the larva that had developed. Now I am wondering if these were queen cells? Would they be drone cells? How can you get the frame out if the cells are attached to the bottom without breaking them open. Let me know if you have any ideas. I just could not believe I saw no cells in my hives since it sure seems like swarm season is in swing- unless those were ones I broke open.

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Rader Sidetrack

· #2 · Apr 3, 2014

Pictures are helpful!

If you are using 'regular' foundation, that is "worker-bee" sized. Bees want to also raise drones, so they may build drone sized 'bridge' comb between boxes to raise drones. If you prefer to discourage that bridge comb, giving them a 'drone' frame or a foundationless frame may help.

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Michael Bush

· #3 · Apr 3, 2014

You don't have to have queen cells to do a split. You do need drones flying so the queen can mate. Drone cells are horizontal. Queen cells are vertical.

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SallyD

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 4, 2014

Thank you for your response. I do have a frame of drone comb in there but they really never drew it out. Michael I felt I needed queen cells to split the hive. I am not good at finding the queen so I thought if I split and left each hive with a queen cell they would be insured to have a queen.

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Acebird

· #5 · Apr 4, 2014

I am going to take a SWAG that they were not queen cells and that is a good thing I think. To do a split you need eggs if you are going to let the split raise a queen. Most likely if you see open brood then there are eggs somewhere. In the spring the brood is usually concentrated in one area. Using all mediums you can split the brood area pretty easy by the box. If you use deeps I would suggest you pull frames to split the brood area.

I thought if I split and left each hive with a queen cell they would be insured to have a queen.

Yeah but that queen has to get mated and that is were the percentages drop. So queen or just eggs your gamble is does she get back.

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Rader Sidetrack

· #6 · Apr 4, 2014

Acebird said:
To do a split you need eggs if you are going to let the split raise a queen.

Eggs are not required for bees to raise a queen. Queens can be raised from worker larva. Eggs hatch into larva at approximately 3 1/2 days after they are laid.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

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