Are these queen cells?

[snmyork]

Went out and did a routine inspection of my hive today, and found these.  Are they queen cells?  There's definitely larva in the one, but couldn't tell inside the other.



A closer look at the one (the bees covered the other too much to get a good shot of it):


Thanks!

[esnipes]

Yes they are. I had some earlier this year when my queen disappeared unexpectedly. The good thing is that I was able to move some frames and create more hives.

[troutstalker2]

  If there is royal jelly it them I would say they are, or will be. My hives will make those queen cups alot and nothing comes of it, but if there is a larva and royal jelly the bees will complete the queen cell. That has been my experience anyhow.

David

[homer]

  If there is royal jelly it them I would say they are, or will be. My hives will make those queen cups alot and nothing comes of it, but if there is a larva and royal jelly the bees will complete the queen cell. That has been my experience anyhow.

David

I second that!  Your bees will likely build queen cups all the time.  They ony use them when they need them.  Most of the time I find them empty.

[snmyork]

I've been playing with the idea of splitting the hive, but since it's a first year hive I wanted to be careful.  I don't want them to swarm on me either though.

[sc-bee]

The frame you are holding up does not look like it is congested. It also looks like natural comb and the cells look a little large for worker brood so it is hard to judge.

How is the rest of the hive and population. Is  it strong? Is the box congested? Are the bees backfilling? Do you have a flow? Is brood area open for queen to lay? Do you see a queen?

What I am getting at is it may be a supercedure. I know you read about location of cells on a frame in reference to swarm or supercedure, but I don't know how much dependence you can put in that. How many cells are there? Just these two?

If you decide swarm and split careful of shb this time of year in our State (SC). Make strong splits and only the amount of comb that can be protected anf feed --feed--- feed!!!

[JP]

These very well could be swarm cells as they are located at the bottom of the frame, unless these were the only eggs left for them to do a supersedure with.


...JP

[sc-bee]

>These very well could be swarm cells as they are located at the bottom of the frame, unless these were the only eggs left for them to do a supersedure with.

I agree based on what you read about swarm cells. Unless heavy feeding or formerly congested we should be out of swarm trouble in SC.
But of course you always have the exception to the rule. And some colonies are just gonna do it ;)!

Maybe he has a flow in Clover SC. We finished!!!

[TwT]

hives build false cell cups all the time, some hives more than others, the thing is to look in the cell and see if there is a larva, if not then just tear it down yourself, its a good practice to use that way you not having to look in 30 of then during inspection.

I thought our flow was over also about 3-4 weeks ago, looking the other day and they have frames of uncapped nectar, dont know where its coming from but saves that much with less feeding..

[snmyork]

I had my wife post while I was doing the inspection. I did see the queen. She was more wondering aimlessly around than looking for a place to lay. The brood chamber is not congested and several frames on one side did not have brood at all. The comb is rather dark on those frames so I could not tell if there were eggs in them. The flow is over here but still have some clover in the yard that the bees are getting.
I do have some uncapped honey.

I've also been feeding them to encourage them to draw some frames out that they have not been doing anything with. I have one deep and two shallows on top. The queen has been laying in the first shallow as you saw in the pictures. That frame was the second or third in.

The hive seems to be strong which is why I am considering not doing a split since I have not had any luck with hives making it through the winter for whatever reason. I do have some shb in the hive and today put a shb trap in that I saw on Tillie's blog.

I know it is hard to tell me what to do without seeing for yourself. But what do you think I should do split the hive or let them maybe supersede the other queen if that is what they are doing.

I think I have everything that I remembered since I have had time to make any notes yet. If it seems a little confusing sorry.

[sc-bee]

>I've also been feeding them to encourage them to draw some frames out that they have not been doing anything with.

I don't have much luck with feeding to draw comb after flow is over. This often leads to a honeybound brood nest this time of year which could lead to swarming in a populous hive.

Make sure queen has plenty of room near center of brood nest to lay.

You could do a split if you are worrired about a swarm. This way if queen cells fail in parent hive you have the back-up queen. Keep a close watch on it and recombine later if needed.