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My strange hive that kept swarming and returning had one supercedure cell in it, but another hive had 8 swarm cells and 3 supercedure cells in it at the same time. Who knows what the girls are thinking.
Multiple hives superceduring at the same time
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I have 3 hives all started from packages in may. All 3 were building up really fast had really good brood patterns and were doing well. Up until the last week. I did my inspections left night and all 3 had very little 1-3 day eggs but a decent amount of capped and uncapped brood. I saw the queen in 2 of the hives but not one. In 2 of the hives I saw supercedure cells. One with a super cell in it I accidentally ripped out pulling a frame out so I pulled a frame of eggs from the hive that had the most to give them something more to work with. It seems to coincide with the drones coning out. Saw a few of them in the hives. Just seems weird that 2 would supercedure at the same time. Both only had one cell and I did see larvae in them as they were no capped. I would guess that the 3rd is going to do the same based on the amount of eggs I saw. I guess my question is for supercedure isn't there usually more than one cell built?
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>but another hive had 8 swarm cells and 3 supercedure cells in it at the same time.
Supersedure and swarm refer to the purpose of the cells. A hive can have one or the other but will never have both. They are either swarming or they are superseding. They are not doing both "at the same time". If you are referring to location, that is irrelevant.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfallacies.htm#swarmcellsonbottom
Supersedure and swarm refer to the purpose of the cells. A hive can have one or the other but will never have both. They are either swarming or they are superseding. They are not doing both "at the same time". If you are referring to location, that is irrelevant.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfallacies.htm#swarmcellsonbottom
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128 Posts
Yes Michael, sorry, 8 on the lower part of the frame and three in the middle. The hive had already swarmed, so that was definatly their intention.
I have a package that lost its Queen very soon after arrival. No eggs early in the season. I bought them a Queen and marked her. She started out well but recently is laying less. There is one supercedure cell on a frame (I expect it may be hatched now).
Is it worth removing the Queen to a nuc to see if she does OK in a different environment and leave the cell with the hive? Is it too risky to leave them with just one cell?
I guess the crux of the question is: when does a hive dispatch a superceded Queen? When the cell is made, capped, emerged, when a mated virgin starts laying?
Will a Queen sometimes do better in new hive than in her own?
Thanks
Is it worth removing the Queen to a nuc to see if she does OK in a different environment and leave the cell with the hive? Is it too risky to leave them with just one cell?
I guess the crux of the question is: when does a hive dispatch a superceded Queen? When the cell is made, capped, emerged, when a mated virgin starts laying?
Will a Queen sometimes do better in new hive than in her own?
Thanks
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Yes packages frequently do super cede quickly after hiving but these were all started on drawn comb and built up fast until now. I was hoping since it had been 6 weeks I was past that. Guess not. I'll be doing another inspection tonight on the hive where I added eggs and the hive that had no supercedure cells to see if anything changed
Recently I sold two nucs from my hives. Pulled the queen and five frames of brood. At that time every other hive I have except one decided to supersede.
Their in four different yards covering an 80 mile circle. All the queens were born last year at different times from different queens. With the exception of one they were all going gangbusters when they got the axe.
Baffles me!
Woody Roberts
Their in four different yards covering an 80 mile circle. All the queens were born last year at different times from different queens. With the exception of one they were all going gangbusters when they got the axe.
Baffles me!
Woody Roberts
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82 Posts
Well my inspections tonight yielded interesting results. One hive had NO supercedure cells where there were before and a good amount of eggs. Did not see the queen though but the eggs for indicate she was there. Hive 2 saw no queen some eggs and now quite a few supercedure cells in the top box. I smashed all but a couple. I also decided to look in give three and that had more eggs than I saw the other day so she is doing good there. On all three I also rearranged frames moving honey and solid pollen frames to the outside and the brood and open or undrawn frames to the middle to give them more to work with in a single area. Kind of surprised that they tore down the supercedure cell in hive one. Never heard of a hive doing that. I'm very certain I didn't miss it. Wierd
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