Supersedure cells with a queen

Beekeeping - Basics
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Hello I am based in USA, florida. I did a little inspection on a small hive I got. I got this hive as a nuc a few weeks ago and has since put it in the brood box i have for them. ive done weekly inspections just to keep up with them but with a few set backs they are on their way. they have been a little low in numbers, but ive seen now the queen is starting to lay a number of eggs now but ive noticed that the workers are also making what looks like supersedure cells with eggs in them already. I have spotted two of these such cells in the middle of two different brood frames. However what confuses me a little is that supersedure queens are typically made with the presence of an old queen but mine has all the characteristics of a young queen (sadly she is not marked with age color marker). I am not sure to cut these queen cells out that have eggs in them or let them carry on and see what they do with the current queen?

Thank you for any imput- Veronica

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Hello and welcome to the Flow forum! :wink:

If they want to supersede your current queen, they will keep trying even if you remove the queen cells. :thinking: It may be that they are unhappy with her for seem reason that they can detect, but humans can’t. Perhaps she isn’t well-mated, or she is aging or her pheromone production is dropping. :wink:

I would suggest requeening with a good queen from a reputable supplier. I don’t know where exactly you are, but there are africanized bees in central and southern Florida, and I wouldn’t let a queen mate naturally in those regions. If you are anywhere near Winter Haven, you could pick one up, otherwise you can order one for shipping from Mann Lake. I have ordered several queens from them over the years, and they are very nice quality:

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Thank you for your help. I am around 45 minutes north of Tampa, Florida so in central. I didnt know that there were africanized bees in parts of florida. I will look into possible new queens then for the hive. Thank you.

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