A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[1muttsfan]

When you say get rid of, do you just remove the top? Most are in the center of the comb.

 

[3goodeggs]

Queen cells are usually on the bottom of the frame.
If there is a queen cell in the middle it might be a supersedure cell.

 

[1muttsfan]

They are all over - along the bottom and in the middle on both sides.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I would think your hive tool would be able to scrape them off the comb.

I haven't done mine, not sure I'm going to be able to, as my weekend doesn't have an ounce of spare time in it and I'm coming up close to when one queen will hatch. (one could hatch as early as Monday)

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I only read back 2 or 3 pages so forgive me if I miss something. Are you spotting ANY brood or eggs? Do you know what different ages of larvae look like? If so how old are the larvae you are seeing?

If there are queen cells- my guess is she swarmed with part of the hive and the remaining bees used some of her last eggs to start some queens from. When you have laying workers they only lay drones, which are genetically exactly 1/2 of their mother's DNA and no father. When a queen bee lays a FERTILIZED egg, it either turns into a worker or if fed extra royal jelly it turns into a queen. When she wants drones she lays unfertilized eggs.

It sounds like there are not enough bees left to do a proper split, so my recommendation would be to crush all but the best (largest, fullest) 3 queen cells and let nature take it's course. Best case scenario is one will hatch, go on her mating flight, and then come back and start laying. Next best is that 2-3 will hatch, they will fight to the death, and the winner will go on her mating flight and then return. Worst case scenario- none of them hatch OR they hatch and mortally wound each other and you have no queen.

 

[1muttsfan]

The queen was released into the hive 2 weeks ago, and probably MIA for around 5 days, along with a good number of her minions (that is around the time I noticed way fewer bees). There is a VERY small amount of capped brood, and the huge number of queen cells. Sunday the weather is supposed to be mild, so I will get in there with a camera and take some pictures. As it is a top bar hive the combs tend to be more easily damaged, but I will try to remove a good number of queen cells as long as I am in there.

Well life is a learning experience!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

The queen was released into the hive 2 weeks ago, and probably MIA for around 5 days, along with a good number of her minions (that is around the time I noticed way fewer bees). There is a VERY small amount of capped brood, and the huge number of queen cells. Sunday the weather is supposed to be mild, so I will get in there with a camera and take some pictures. As it is a top bar hive the combs tend to be more easily damaged, but I will try to remove a good number of queen cells as long as I am in there.

Well life is a learning experience!

 

[mak1]

The biggest mistake people make is killing queen cells. Bees know what they are doing.

 

[1muttsfan]

Mak1, would you have concerns about leaving so many queen cells?

 

[mak1]

nope. Natural selection.