# Do sealed emergency queen cups always produce queens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Bee Breeding\ **Created:** [March 10, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285 "2017-03-10T22:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jasongaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@Jasongaut](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Jasongaut)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/1 "2017-03-10T22:51:03Z")
Fairly new beekeeper here. One of my hives was busting at the seams last week so I removed a few frames with brood, eggs, pollen and capped honey and placed them in a nuc box. Doing an inspection today, I noticed that there are three or four capped emergency queen cups. Does this mean that I’ll definitely have a new queen in a few weeks, or is it still too early to tell? ---
**Author:** ![Dawn\_SD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/dawn_sd/32/15954_2.png) [@Dawn\_SD](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Dawn_SD)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/2 "2017-03-10T23:10:24Z")
> [@Jasongaut](#): > > I removed a few frames with brood, eggs, pollen and capped honey and placed them in a nuc box. Which box has the queen cells? The nucleus, or the original hive? > [@Jasongaut](#): > > Does this mean that I’ll definitely have a new queen in a few weeks, or is it still too early to tell? Well, nothing in nature is 100%… 😊 The only way to know whether you have a fertile new queen is to see eggs and uncapped larvae in the box which had queen cells (and no queen). ---
**Author:** ![skeggley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/skeggley/32/27522_2.png) [@skeggley](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/skeggley)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/3 "2017-03-10T23:16:48Z")
The key word is fertile, although, as Dawn says, nothing’s 100%. I think it would be safe to say a new queen will be made and hatch. Whether it makes it back from the mating flights is another matter… ---
**Author:** ![Jasongaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@Jasongaut](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Jasongaut)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/4 "2017-03-11T01:21:57Z")
The nucleus is the box with the queen cells. The original hive that I pulled the frames from still has a productive queen. ---
**Author:** ![Jasongaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@Jasongaut](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Jasongaut)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/5 "2017-03-11T01:22:45Z")
That sounds good to me! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![JeffH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/jeffh/32/7192_2.png) [@JeffH](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/JeffH)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/6 "2017-03-11T03:21:43Z")
Hi Jason, you’ll definitely have a new queen, however, as @skeggley said, there’s no guarantee she’ll make it back successfully mated. I read in one of my early books that a queen has a one chance in 7 of failure. That is always something to keep in the back of your mind whenever you do a split. The good news is: if you do 7 splits, only one will fail:) ---
**Author:** ![Jasongaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@Jasongaut](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Jasongaut)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/7 "2017-03-11T16:21:46Z")
Thanks Jeff. I’m definitely not ready to do 7 splits! ---
**Author:** ![Anon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@Anon](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Anon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/8 "2017-03-11T18:09:21Z")
If you have sealed queen cells, you’ll have a new queen in a few days. Then she has to leave the hive for a few hours and mate with up to 40 drones and make it back without being bird food. ---
**Author:** ![JeffH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/jeffh/32/7192_2.png) [@JeffH](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/JeffH)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/do-sealed-emergency-queen-cups-always-produce-queens/10285/9 "2017-03-11T19:29:31Z")
You are welcome Jason. If you have enough bees to break the split into two, that will be good insurance in case one queen fails.