>> I observed many (at least a dozen) supersedure cells started
>> but not finished - they were kind of round, but not yet elongated.

Geoff Manning writes:

> These sound more
> like the 'cell butts' that are there more or less all the time. Queenless,
> as opposed to supersedure or swarm cells, are started from worker cells and
> on careful examination this can be seen.

In this case I don't think so.  That is, I often see "queen cups" in
the "swarm position" at the bottom of frames, but despite my relative
inexperience, I *have* been paying attention over the past three
seasons, and the "partial queen cells" in "supersedure position" (on
the face of the frame, about 1/3 down from the top) are not normal in
my hive or my neighbour's hive.

Now, we do believe that the queen was superseded in that hive last
summer, so it's not impossible that those cells were left over from
that effort and that I forgot that they were there - I keep written
records for my own hive, but not his.  I'll make a point of removing
those when he restarts, so we start with a "clean observational
slate", so to speak!

Gene Ash adds:

> It is my understanding that a virgin has a limit time to mate and after
> that she may lay a few eggs but generally does not last very long.

Hmm, so winter queen loss would not be survivable then.  Well, I
suppose in such a case a mated queen could be introduced once the
weather warmed up, but from what I recall of bee physiology, the
remaining older bees might not be able to act as nurse bees, even if
they accepted the new queen.

> With small cluster of bees in very cold climates you might also
> wonder about the sperm the existing queen has stored and if the
> cold weather negatively impact the queens ability to lay fertilized eggs.

Well, if the cluster is too small to keep the queen warm, it's too
small to keep any brood warm, so the point would be moot, I suspect.


Anne.
-- 
Ms. Anne Bennett, as a private citizen:  [log in to unmask]
Also reachable more officially at work:  [log in to unmask]

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