Probably an old queen, let em supercede.
Queen Cells in a Top Bar hive
I'm new to beekeeping. I caught a swarm and placed it in a top bar hive a couple of weeks ago. I noticed this weekend they had stared at least 2 queen cups. Would I be better off letting the hive do it's natural thing, or trying to make a split some how?
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"Would I be better off letting the hive do it's natural thing, or trying to make a split some how?"
Let them do their thing. If it was a primary swarm they may be superceding an old queen. If it was a secondary swarm, you don't want to split them at this stage, and you don't want to eliminate the cups because it could be a primary swarm with an old or weak queen.
Let them do their thing. If it was a primary swarm they may be superceding an old queen. If it was a secondary swarm, you don't want to split them at this stage, and you don't want to eliminate the cups because it could be a primary swarm with an old or weak queen.
I would just keep an eye on it at this point. Two of my top bars always have queen cups but they rarely develop into queen cells unless it gets overcrowded. It may be partly due to the sloping edge of the comb.
Thanks for the insight.
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