These are pics from last weeks couch cutout which I put into 2 different boxes. I didn’t get the queen during the cut out but they might be trying to make one. Sorry the pics aren’t the greatest but the touch screen on my camera doesn’t work well with gloves on. This first picture is fuzzy but what I think is a queen cell is on the lower ( right ) near/under the rubber band. It comes out of the frame and heads downward. It has something glistening in the cell (though you can’t see that. Pic #1
Hard to tell on the second one. It may be an emergency queen cell, but it is a bit short, and it looks like it is an area of drone cells. It probably is, but I wouldn’t put money on it.
Sorry Dawn, I was editing after you replied. Any chance of knowing how long it takes after making emergency cells to know when they hatch? How would I know? And don’t they fly away as well? Are they just gone a few hours? Dummy questions.BTW it was on the lower right under the rubber band.
A virgin queen will usually come back to the hive from which she emerged after mating flights. If it is queenless, she would normally be accepted immediately. She will probably make several flights over a few days to a week, depending on weather and drone availability.
I think the overexposed peanut shell in the first photo is the best candidate for a decent queen cell.
One more thought. If they are making a queen, you didn’t capture her. She may still be in the couch. I think you should go ask the homeless lady for a refund, as she didn’t give you the queen.
Pix’s 2 n 3 look like crappy but drone cells. But #1 pix as Dawn mentioned appears to be a Supercedial Queen cell. Did you see jelly n egg in it (maybe). A queens brood cycle is 16 days from laid to hatched. A worker 21days n drone 24 days just for reference if you have firgoitten those numbers. I finally to the old gray-matter glue to hold those fact … At 72 yrs it takes some work to keep it attached in thar brain !
I saw something shiny inside the possible supercedial but didn’t want to keep it out of the box too long for a thorough inspection as it was over 100 degree’s out today and without my darned glasses I wouldn’t have known if it were a queen cell or a cell phone lol. It’s at a friends house a half hour away but will look closer next time. Thanks for the graph.
Hi Jeff. The issue with the one hive that doesn’t look like it has made a queen cell(s) is that it has short frames unlike my 2 hives I have with queens. Question, should I maybe remove the short frames and put them in a larger box so I can add some brood? Here is a frame from my main hive that I’ve had since transferring from the dresser. I think this is full of brood but am not sure. Is this brood or honey comb? (Let the laughing begin) This is their only filled out frame thus far that I can see. Thanks Noel
That is brood and capped brood. Plus a little honey and pollen at the top.
Actually, apart from the strip down the middle, that is one of the nicest frames of capped brood I have seen for quite a while. I guess my bees are lazy…
. This image helps.
