Yes, definitely. In this case the cells that could be cut from the comb were transferred into small hives called nucs (short for nucleus colony). The queen was removed with a couple of frames of bees and put into another nuc. She may or may not be worth saving. A couple of cells were left in the original colony to hatch. It hurts the size of the original hive, but gives you extra queens and keeps all of the bees in the hives instead of them swarming away to start a colony somewhere else.
Good quick informative picture of queen cells. This helped me identify what's in my hive since this is my first year beekeeping. I'm told the bees shouldn't swarm first year so was surprised to see one. I have my queen and lots of brood so not sure what is going on in the beehive.
Glad to hear they helped you. Not unusual for first year packages or nucs to swarm. Could be they need more room, but they do what they want and they know what they're doing. It sometimes doesn't make sense to us. Wish you the best with your new bees. I know you will enjoy them.
I think it's dumb how beekeepers kill the queen cells.
Considering the current terrible state that bees are in, the bee farmers should enable a percentage of their hives to swarm naturally, otherwise they are effectively contributing to the problem by forcibly preventing the bee population to grow
according to wikipedia, naturally there will only be one virgin queen in the hive, one will fight to the death until there is one left. The mature queen hangs around for a bit and still lays eggs then later leaves. So the way I see it, taking the cells out of the equation makes it easier for a virgin to continue on her quest to become queen.
It might make it easier for the virgin queen to take the other queen cells 'out of the equation' as you so mildly put it, but would you say its natural to do that?
Doing such thing would prevent natural swarming which is the only method they have of mulitplying their numbers.
It makes sense to anyone who does not know much about beekeeping (not saying you don't either) but people need to realize that another way beekeepers keep swarming colonies at bay is by simply splitting them into two different hives, or colonies. That method is just as is not more effective as letting them swarm (the difference being you can keep and exploit the new hive!).
If a beekeeper's got spare unoccupied hives then I think that's a great idea. I wholeheartledly agree with you there. If no spare hives however it's better to let them swarm by their own accord.
No, generally each of a beekeeper's hives are already full to begin with, where would he put the bees then?!!! I've been beekeeping for over 30 years and I think Bib's idea of letting swarm naturally is the best I've heard so far for preserving their poulation, of course if you've got room in other hives go for it, but that's pretty obvious to begin with anyway! A beekeeper's only got so many hives at their disposal.
Having extra room or hives was assumed in my statement! Of course, I am not trying to put anyone down when I say splitting hives is a good thing. And yes, letting them swarm would help the population get a step up. The problem comes when urbanization is factored in and less respect is given from the common man to bees, thereby exterminating or by other methods eliminating the bee population. If I hired 20 employees to go and split 100 hives but never bought any supplies, what do you think would
happen?! I am not trying to be offensive or anything, I love my bees, I just thought that it would be good to point out that swarming off and losing half a colony is not the ONLY method for helping the bees. If you really want to help them out, get the word out and tell people not to go exterminating 20,000 bees on a tree branch because they are scared of their "uninvited" guests. At least letting bees swarm naturally could help this quasi-crisis a bit, and I'm just saying splitting can help too
Even the queen and her children has bee cellulite.
bogercs 1 year ago
when you get queen cells like that , do you have to worry about the hive swarming?
slacker361 2 years ago
Yes, definitely. In this case the cells that could be cut from the comb were transferred into small hives called nucs (short for nucleus colony). The queen was removed with a couple of frames of bees and put into another nuc. She may or may not be worth saving. A couple of cells were left in the original colony to hatch. It hurts the size of the original hive, but gives you extra queens and keeps all of the bees in the hives instead of them swarming away to start a colony somewhere else.
acbees 2 years ago 3
I always thought that when the first queen hatches, it kills off the other unhatched queens.
Tom6093 1 year ago
those are not killerbees :)
rimsa80 2 years ago
@rimsa80 nope, they're the European Honeybees (Apis Mellifera)
Mesmerelda 1 year ago
Bees arent that evil unless you bother them for a longer time. they probobly doesnt even knows theír frame has been picked up...
jontebiogas10 2 years ago
@jontebiogas10 In other words, they're minding their own beeswax. =P
Mesmerelda 1 year ago
Good quick informative picture of queen cells. This helped me identify what's in my hive since this is my first year beekeeping. I'm told the bees shouldn't swarm first year so was surprised to see one. I have my queen and lots of brood so not sure what is going on in the beehive.
flyingslanted 2 years ago
Glad to hear they helped you. Not unusual for first year packages or nucs to swarm. Could be they need more room, but they do what they want and they know what they're doing. It sometimes doesn't make sense to us. Wish you the best with your new bees. I know you will enjoy them.
Arvin
acbees 2 years ago
I think it's dumb how beekeepers kill the queen cells.
Considering the current terrible state that bees are in, the bee farmers should enable a percentage of their hives to swarm naturally, otherwise they are effectively contributing to the problem by forcibly preventing the bee population to grow
BibFortuna4President 2 years ago 4
Wild hives may become an unnecessary competition.
lastpeach 2 years ago
according to wikipedia, naturally there will only be one virgin queen in the hive, one will fight to the death until there is one left. The mature queen hangs around for a bit and still lays eggs then later leaves. So the way I see it, taking the cells out of the equation makes it easier for a virgin to continue on her quest to become queen.
kaylac84 2 years ago
It might make it easier for the virgin queen to take the other queen cells 'out of the equation' as you so mildly put it, but would you say its natural to do that?
Doing such thing would prevent natural swarming which is the only method they have of mulitplying their numbers.
BibFortuna4President 2 years ago 2
It makes sense to anyone who does not know much about beekeeping (not saying you don't either) but people need to realize that another way beekeepers keep swarming colonies at bay is by simply splitting them into two different hives, or colonies. That method is just as is not more effective as letting them swarm (the difference being you can keep and exploit the new hive!).
nousernameideasleft 2 years ago
If a beekeeper's got spare unoccupied hives then I think that's a great idea. I wholeheartledly agree with you there. If no spare hives however it's better to let them swarm by their own accord.
BibFortuna4President 2 years ago
No, generally each of a beekeeper's hives are already full to begin with, where would he put the bees then?!!! I've been beekeeping for over 30 years and I think Bib's idea of letting swarm naturally is the best I've heard so far for preserving their poulation, of course if you've got room in other hives go for it, but that's pretty obvious to begin with anyway! A beekeeper's only got so many hives at their disposal.
angelhope2009 2 years ago 4
Comment removed
thatmafiaguy 2 years ago
Having extra room or hives was assumed in my statement! Of course, I am not trying to put anyone down when I say splitting hives is a good thing. And yes, letting them swarm would help the population get a step up. The problem comes when urbanization is factored in and less respect is given from the common man to bees, thereby exterminating or by other methods eliminating the bee population. If I hired 20 employees to go and split 100 hives but never bought any supplies, what do you think would
nousernameideasleft 2 years ago
happen?! I am not trying to be offensive or anything, I love my bees, I just thought that it would be good to point out that swarming off and losing half a colony is not the ONLY method for helping the bees. If you really want to help them out, get the word out and tell people not to go exterminating 20,000 bees on a tree branch because they are scared of their "uninvited" guests. At least letting bees swarm naturally could help this quasi-crisis a bit, and I'm just saying splitting can help too
nousernameideasleft 2 years ago
Nice
yunk9 3 years ago
sou brasileiro e dai?
rodrigofjv5 3 years ago 2