mistress beek

Tagged: supercedure RSS

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  mistress beek 8:08 am on April 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: supercedure, swarm (5), top bar hive (9)   

  Photo of Swarm vs. Supercedure Cells 

  How can you tell the difference between a swarm cell and a supercedure cell? 

  As a new beekeeper with energetic girls, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn the difference. Now predicting what happens when a hive starts building these cells is anyone’s guess…. but here’s what look like and where you can find ‘em on the comb.

  In a Top Bar Hive:

  • Swarm cells are typically built on the edge, side, or bottom of a comb.
  • Supercedure cells are typically built smack in the middle of the comb.

  

  2 capped swarm cells, built on the edge of the comb

  

  Queen cup (left) and capped supercedure cell (right), both built in the middle of the comb.

  In a Langstroth Hive:

  Things are slightly different in a Langstroth hive, but here’s a useful discussion indicating that in a Langstroth:

  • Supercedure cells are typically built in the top half of a frame. See photo of a supercedure cell in a Langstroth.
  • Swarm cells are typically built in the bottom half of a frame. See photo of a swarm cell in a Langstroth.

  Backyard Bee is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Backyard Bee 10:54 am on April 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Thanks for the links. I just learned a whole bunch. I think my bees (last year) were very confused. They had an underperforming queen, since they never regained momentum after the July dearth, and they wanted to supercede her.

    But they put the queen cups on the edge of a comb so she never laid eggs in them. We only had a few thousand bees all year long, and she knew better than to swarm.

    This year, we won’t be so timid about inspecting to check on queen performance.

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  mistress beek 5:17 pm on May 18, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: drones, gardening, screen, supercedure   

  So many questions from the newbeek 

  More for my own reference than anything else, here’s a brain dump of questions I have 3 weeks into beekeeping:

  • For the summer, should we remove the bottom board leaving only a screened bottom?
  • Do drones buzz louder than worker bees?
  • Is it possible that workers built a supercedure cell but didn’t move an egg into it?
  • Do bees like cacti? They’re not on most lists of bee-friendly garden plants, but in the Southwest we’ve plenty.

  If any of you bee sages out there have answers, I’m all ears.

  Chantal, and borderglider are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    borderglider 10:36 am on May 22, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    1. YES – an Open Mesh Floor is best in summer because varroa which lose their grip on the bees will fall through the mesh and die. If you leave the board in place – they crawl back and bite another bee.

    2. Drones DO buzz louder than workers because they are almost three times as large. Their eyes are about TEN times as large – so they can find the queen on a mating flight.

    3. Bees often build ‘practice’ swarm cells. They don’t move eggs into swarm cells – they select a normal cell with an egg already laid in it – and they then modify the cell to become a queen cell. Swarm cells are often built in large numbers – up to a dozen – and are usually built around the bottom and edges of a brood frame. A supercedure cells is quite different. They usually only build one or two and these are very large and placed in the centre of a frame.

    If you are a beginner I suggest you buy a copy of E.B. Wedmore’s book ‘ A Manual of Beekeeping’ – you can get it on Amazon or Abebooks for a few pounds. Also, buy ANY other good books you can get.

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    Chantal 2:54 pm on May 22, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    Hey many thanks for your response!

    Regarding the swarm cell, I think it might actually have been a supercedure cell. Here’s a photo of it if you’re curious:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixwriter/2507847905/