# Damaged Queen cell capping?



## llgoddj (Apr 11, 2012)

that's a good question, and I would also like an answer as I have I believe done the same thing a few days ago. I have not been able yet to open the hive, and am reluctant to at the present so I am hoping that somehow the queen does emerge. I am going to open up the hive in a few days if the weather is OK.
will keep you posted.
thank,s
larry


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## Brooder (May 7, 2013)

Thanks! Let me know how she turns out? I recall doing this same thing 2 years ago with a sup. cell, they patched it up, but not sure if she emerged or was killed by another queen?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I do queen cell grafting. One got torn out a bit but they did not repair the wax by the 
cell cup that was open. The next day when I checked on this hive the cell got opened up and the
queen bee larva was gone. I think they recycled this queen in a half development stage.
Since I have more cells I just treated it as a failed cell graft.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

A just capped cell if the larvae isn't damages, is usually repaired. A cell that has a pupa in it (that has spun a cocoon) usually is not, but that may be that the larvae/pupa is usually damaged because of the cocoon holding it all together.


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

Just this week I was putting cells in mating nucs. I had one cell that looked like a bunch of burr comb. I wasn't sure that there was a queen cell in the comb and didn't know if I should make up a nuc for it. Usually when they add burr comb to a queen cell it is quite a bit softer than the cell and I can pull some of it off. I was pulling at the comb when I pulled the end of the cell off. I could see the cocoon. I gently folded wax back over the end, but it was obvious that the cell was damaged.

I went ahead and made up the nuc and yesterday found the telltale hole in the end of the cell where the queen had hatched out.


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## Brooder (May 7, 2013)

Mike,

Thanks for the info. At this point , I'll wait a few more days to see if a queen survives. I thought I had 4 swarm cells in a cluster on this frame, I damaged 3. Still hopeful? Maybe there's still one undamaged? Since it was 12 days since moving the swarm cells to a Nuc box, I couldn't have been more than a day or two from emergence of a queen? The swarm cells were long but uncapped, I estimated 6-7 days old when i moved them? Is the 16 day emergence written in stone or can it vary? Does cool weather lengthen the process a day or two?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> Since it was 12 days since moving the swarm cells to a Nuc box, I couldn't have been more than a day or two from emergence of a queen? The swarm cells were long but uncapped, I estimated 6-7 days old when i moved them?

If they were about to be capped, they should emerge 9 days from when you transferred them. If I found uncapped queen cells, I'd probably wait another week to put them in the split/nuc

> Is the 16 day emergence written in stone or can it vary? 

It varies:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

>Does cool weather lengthen the process a day or two? 
Yes. And hot weather can shorten it.


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## Brooder (May 7, 2013)

Michael,

Need advice on a swarm situation? Replaced the queen to hopefully thwart the swarm impulse, but they swarmed with the new queen.
Now the hive is queenless since 5/29/13 with several sup. and swarm cells. It did not loose half the bees to the swarm, maybe 25-30 %.
This was our only hive capable of making honey, so I gave it 2 frames of capped brood from a weaker hive. Is there any hope for making honey if this hive creates a new queen on it's own? This hive is still quite full with bees and very gentle, surprisingly? I wonder if they're going to swarm again?

Thanks for the help, Brooder


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Need advice on a swarm situation? Replaced the queen to hopefully thwart the swarm impulse, but they swarmed with the new queen.

So much for that myth...

>Now the hive is queenless since 5/29/13 with several sup. and swarm cells. 

When did they swarm?

>It did not loose half the bees to the swarm, maybe 25-30 %.
This was our only hive capable of making honey, so I gave it 2 frames of capped brood from a weaker hive. Is there any hope for making honey if this hive creates a new queen on it's own?

The weather, the bees, the environment will decide these things. But I would not plan on any honey...

> This hive is still quite full with bees and very gentle, surprisingly?

Not really. Swarming is a natural thing and they have queen cells. They are, from their point of view, not in a hopeless state by any means.

> I wonder if they're going to swarm again?

That is their decision. You can affect it by opening the brood nest or possibly splitting them (each with queen cells) and recombining them when there is a heavy flow going.


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## Brooder (May 7, 2013)

Well, I have eggs and larva, so they must have repaired the queen cells!


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

Perhaps the "damage" was limited to bumping some of the wax from the cocoon at the tip of the cell. When the cell is nearing maturity, just before the virgin queens emerge, the bees remove that wax, themselves, from the tips of the cells, exposing the cocoon at that point (I assume it is so the young queens can get more oxygen into their cells, so they have more energy to facilitate their emergence).

Whenever I've caused damage to queen cells, I see that the bees will sometimes repair them, sometimes not. Usually if some of the wax is removed from the cocoon, but the cocoon is not injured/damaged, it is not a problem. If the cocoon is damaged, that is much worse, neither the bees nor the unemerged queen are capable of repairing it. If it is before the cell is capped, and the larva is uninjured, they usually fix that in less than 20 minutes. If the cell is capped, but the larvae inside hasn't finished spinning its cocoon, they will often abort them if damaged.


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