[NaturesPace]

Hi
I'm new to the forum. We had two hives last year that didn't make it. We just started this year with packaged bees. So far so good. We got top feeders instead of the little buckets with the quarter sized mesh thingy. They sure do eat a lot this time of year.

We are in Virginia and experiencing nice weather... Finally.

I have a question but not sure where to ask it, so I'll do it here and see what feedback I get.

My packaged bees are about two weeks in their hive. Honey, pollen, capped brood and uncapped. I saw the queen, but the girls were building a couple queen cells. Should I be worried? They have 4 foundations empty, one is a drone frame. The other frames are not totally filled out yet. Should I scrape out the cells? Do you think they will swarm or do they not like their queen? She was supposed to be a young Italian queen.

 

[Kevtater]

They're probably supersedure cells. Very common for package bees to supersede the queen. It's not because there's anything wrong with her but because the workers perceive her as failing due to the length of time between when the bees were shook into the package and when they see new bees emerging. I tend to let them supersede in case there really is something wrong with the queen. I'm not a fan of destroying queen cells. Search "package supercedure" and you'll find more info.

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Welcome NP!