# Queen Cups...



## adamziegler (Jan 4, 2010)

(The new fresh comb DOES have eggs throughout the comb.)


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Do the cups have larvae in them? Bees often build cups without them. If there is larvae in them the bees will be feeding constantly. If there is not larvae in them they will not be all that interested in them.


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## adamziegler (Jan 4, 2010)

Bees are constantly sticking their heads inside of the cell making it hard for me get a look from just the observation window.


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## Aram (May 9, 2006)

_"My thoughts are to first open the hive and observe to see if any of the new comb has eggs in it." _
Absolutely. The observation window is more for entertainment than real inspection.

_"I also plan to see if I can find the existing queen. If they are swarm cells, I assume that I should expand the hive a bit correct?"_
By expand the hive, you mean make a split? I assume this is the first year. If so, my guess is they are not swarming. Just watch them, they've got a lot to teach. (Another consideration: Have these bees come from a package? How long ago? Have they superceded (replaced the queen) that you know of?)

_"Any thoughts on why two of the bars I have added have not been touched by the bees?"_
Too much space all at once. They have to cover the brood to keep it warm. Adding four bars in a hive with only five bars drawn is stretching them thin. Depending on how many bees in the hive, one bar break in the brood nest might have been plenty. (How old the hive? How many bees in the hive? how many total drawn bars?)

_"I may take one of the bars with cells on it, and place it in a new hive. Thoughts?"_
If first year hive, don't worry about splitting it. They need those cells to build up. Just enjoy watching them. Bees build queen cells for fun all the time. Doesn't mean they'll raise another queen. Sounds like yours have plenty of space.


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## adamziegler (Jan 4, 2010)

Aram said:


> By expand the hive, you mean make a split? I assume this is the first year. If so, my guess is they are not swarming. Just watch them, they've got a lot to teach. (Another consideration: Have these bees come from a package? How long ago? Have they superceded (replaced the queen) that you know of?)


Bees came from a 3lb package and were installed on May 2nd. They have been in the hive about 6 weeks now. I probably used the wrong terminology, but by "expand" I meant adding more bars of space. And this is my first year keeping bees! 



Aram said:


> _"Any thoughts on why two of the bars I have added have not been touched by the bees?"_
> Too much space all at once. They have to cover the brood to keep it warm. Adding four bars in a hive with only five bars drawn is stretching them thin. Depending on how many bees in the hive, one bar break in the brood nest might have been plenty. (How old the hive? How many bees in the hive? how many total drawn bars?)


There were actually about 10 bars drawn almost completely full when I added the 4 extra bars. Only the first two near the entrance had ~50% built comb. Now I have the original 10 basically completely built with the addition of two empty bars, and two bars that are ~50% built. I crack the hive last night to take a peak at the new comb. It does in fact have eggs throughout the comb.


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## adamziegler (Jan 4, 2010)

Had the hive open tonight. Most of the queen cells were empty or gone. One queen cell had royal jelly in it. I could not tell if there was larva or an egg... just a bunch of white royal jelly. Would the bees even put RJ in the cup if there wasn't an egg in it?

Also quite a few more drone in the hive than previous inspections. One side of one comb was about 50% drone cells. There is also plenty of new worker brood throughout the rest of the hive.

Unfortunately I could not find the queen during the inspection.


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