Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: bzzigi on April 30, 2012, 03:38:52 am
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Hi there,
what are the risks that queen cells in cell builder hive induce a swarming mood in that hive? They will stay there for 10 days and swarm cells are normally not a cause but a consequence of hive being in a swarming mood, but it is a swarming season, hive is full of bees and there is a thin line between swarming and no swarming...
I wouldn't like to loose a good colony. Would it be safer to use some weaker hive as a builder?
King regards,
bzzigi
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A cell builder SHOULD be in a swarming mood. That's whey they build cells really well. If you want a lot of cells, if you want well fed cells, you need a hive that is crammed and overflowing with bees. A weaker hive will make less cells and the quality of the queens will be less as well.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm#cellstarter (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm#cellstarter)
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Hi Michael,
sorry, it wasn't very clear from my question.
I am using Jenter box, so I will have a certain number of queen cells which I will put in a builder hive (after they spend one day in a starter). I don't need them to make any more cells, just to care about these, for 10 days.
Asuming that the colony was strong and overcrowded with bees but not in swarming mood before I put queen cells there, will new, "externally produced", queen cells really cause them to swarm? If they swarm in that period (10 days, when queen cells are there) they won't be a strong hive anymore.
Sorry again, but I'm trying to understand what will be going on in my builder colony and what might be the consequences.
KR,
bzzigi
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They should not be able to swarm: they are queenless. A queenright hive will not raise your queen cells, even destroy them.