Supercedure
A little over a week ago I was poking around in the bee hives. The weak hive had two "supercedure" cells on it.
There are two types of queen cells, swarm cells and supercedure cells. The egg that goes into queen cells is like any worker bee egg, but it is fed differently and has a larger space to grow in. The space and diet is what makes it a queen instead of a worker.
Swarm cells hang on the bottom of the frames and are created when the hive becomes overcrowded. Eggs are laid in the swarm cells and new queens hatch out of them. They swarm away with part of the bee colony and that relieves the stress due to overcrowding.
Supercedure cells are built hanging off the comb, as in the photograph. They are built by expanding normal worker cells.
I don't know why my bees have found their old queen unsuitable. I do know this hive has been dramatically weaker than the other hive since I first installed my bees. Even after "stealing" a couple of small frames of honey and brood from the strong hive and placing it in the weak hive, the weak hive is still way behind.
Maybe the old queen is aging and not as productive as she should be. Maybe she is physically inferior in some way. Whatever the reason, the new queens have probably hatched by now. The first one to hatch will kill the second one, and then it will kill the old queen.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the hive is doing. I'll probably take a good look this weekend.
I don't know if worker bees will build swarm cells when a hive is not already crowded; I think they are programmed not to. Even if they did, I don't know if the current queen would lay in those cells. She is probably programmed to not lay eggs in queen cells if the hive is not crowded. I'm just guessing, but I suspect that is why supercedure cells are built the way they are. The unsuspecting current queen lays normal worker eggs and then a couple of them are made into queens on the sly. Nature sure is tricksy sometimes.
Labels: bees
posted by Leslie @ 10:55 AM
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I've always wanted to keep bees. How many hives do you have and what would be a ball-park figure on starting out?
Woody, I started with two hives and I definitely recommend starting with two or three. It's very helpful being able to compare one against the other.
Also, find a beekeepers' club and attend the meetings. If possible, find a mentor at the meetings and go watch them work their hives and have them come over and help you work yours once or twice. It wouldn't hurt to join now and attend meetings, and maybe visit one or two beekeepers when they're working their hives or extracting honey. Beekeepers are an unbelievably friendly, informative, and supportive lot.
To start I'd recommend two deeps and a super for each hive, plus the frames and foundation for each hive. You can get away with frames and foundation for only one deep at the outset but you'll want to have frames and foundation on hand for the additional deep and super well before you think you need them.
Each hive will also require an inner cover, top cover, and bottom board. You can get a feeder for each hive but I just use mason jars.
You'll want a veil, gloves, hive tool, and smoker. I don't use a suit and haven't ever wished for one. I don't use special "smoker fuel" I use pine needles and they work *great*.
And then after everything is assembled and painted and set up you'll want a package of bees for each hive.
I'd go ahead and get everything ordered now, and schedule the bees to arrive WELL past your last frost date in the spring. It's best if night time temps are above 55F. Order now so you'll be able to assemble the hives at your leisure in the fall or early spring, and so you'll be high on the "waiting list" for packaged bees.
Store your foundation where rodents cannot get to it.
For prices, check out BetterBee or Mann Lake. It's not a cheap hobby to get into. However it supposedly increases your fruit/nut crops by quite a bit. I've seen figures from 25% to 50%.
BetterBee: http://www.betterbee.com/
Mann Lake: http://www.mannlakeltd.com/
Great question, I'm glad you asked it.
Fascinating.
Good photography too!
I watched a lone honey bee land on our camp a half mile off shore in a pouring rain this past week.
I moved him out of the rain and wished him (her I guess) luck.
I'm starting to see more honeybees locally; this spring there didn't seem to be any around. They feast well on the white clover in my yard!
Great post- it must be fine to watch your bees. Wonderful photo and I love the title!
I think your caterpillar is an Eacles imperialis - the imperial moth. They feed on all sorts of trees and shrubs. It may be ill due to being full of parasitic fly or wasp larvae.
It would be great if you could add a postscript saying how this worked out. Did the weak colony be come stronger with the new queen?
Alas, my bee hive blew over in a really bad winter storm, filled with snow, and all the bees died :(
From what I've read, and from discussions at my beekeeper's club, there is a lot of debate around supercedure cells.
Some say that because the supercedure cell was not intended to be a queen from day one, but was 'hacked' into being a queen cell, that the queen which hatches out is inferior.
Others say that the colony knows what it's doing and as long as the new queen gets the necessary diet to become a queen, she'll be better than the old, failing queen.
Then there's also the possibility that the old queen will kill the new queen before she hatches. Sly and tricksy, queens can be.
My own hunch is that a normal queen cell would be best, a supercedure cell would be second best, and a bought queen would be my last choice for replacing a queen. I say that because the purchased queen comes from genetics that usually are fit for warm climates and from strains that are more likely to raise queens (and therefore swarm) than my own native colony. Plus the shipping is stressful. But I'm very inexperienced and may well change my notions in a few years.
Thanks for your input/request!
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