Queen Cells

[kirk boy]

I have obtained a nuc the bees are building up rapidly this is my first hive and I have found a couple of queen cell which I destroyed as I feel the colony is not yet strong enough to split I am looking for advice when I should split the colony and if at future inspections there are more queen cells do I destroy then or is this bad practice

[Jimbo]

Hi Kirk Boy,

Are the bees still in the nuc? If they are get them into a full size hive. If the queen is congested they will make queen cells. If possible also give her drawn comb to lay in. By destroying the queen cells will only delay the swarming impulse and eventually they will swarm. Was the queen cells charged? i.e could you see the white larvae in the peanut shaped cell? Did you see the queen? If for some reason she was killed and you chop out the queen cells you could end up with a queenless colony. If the bees are in a full size hive and she makes more queen cells then you will need to do a swarm control. There are many variations on swarm control but they all work on the same principle you need to separate the queen and flying bees from the brood with queen cells and nurse bees. This involves using another brood box etc (see Ted Hoopers book for a good description of swarm control)

Jimbo

[Adam]

Kirkboy,
Did you see queencells or just queen cups? Queencups are acorn shaped formations of wax and are not a problem. Unless eggs go in them of course.

Is it a 2009 or 2010 queen? When did you get the nuc?