I had 6 queen cells that all came out of the same hive which I think is probably getting ready to swarm. I was afraid to take all the queen cells away from this hive as I didn't see any more young brood/eggs so I think the queen has probably already stopped laying and if they go ahead and swarm, this hive could end up queenless if I stripped them of all the q cells.
I then put two of the q cells in with a new split I made from another hive (not the one that had all the queen cells), and I banked two more of the q cells in a nuc. The two biggest cells went in the split, BUT when I got into the split to add the two q cells today, I noticed the 2-day-old split already had 3 more queen cups with what looked like royal jelly/eggs in them. These queen cups with stuff in them were on a frame of eggs I had put in the split Saturday so they could make themselves a queen. That was before I knew I had already capped queen cells in another hive. I was suprised the split built the 3 queen cups with stuff in them so fast as I know only the eggs, not the extended queen cups, were there when I did the split. I wonder if the girls will build out the queen cups into mature queen cells now that they have 2 capped queen cells freshly added.
I asked about size as I was wondering whether the hive, the split or the nuc was going to end up with the best queen. I guess time will tell.
Kathy, i will go back and try to find that other discussion/thread. Thanks. LD