In a message dated 5/29/99 8:42:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

>      Today, I went out to check a swarm that I collected 1 1/2 months ago.
>  Last weekend, I checked it, and figured that it would need a second deep
>  body this weekend.  There was also evidence of early swarm activity.  The
>  colony is not that big yet, cause it was a small swarm to begin with.  When
>  I got there, I opened the hive and began to check frame by frame.  I found
>  one frame with a capped swarm cell, which yes, I did cut.

   When a prime swarm establishes a new home, the old queen's days are
numbered. Usually within a couple weeks, they raise some new queens to
replace her. So the cells you saw are likely supersedure cells.

    Once again, I remind folks that cutting out cells are usually a mistake,
except in a few special circumstances.  The bees know what they need. Where
does this idea of cutting cells come from, and why is it such a persistant
idea?  You'd better let that hive replace that failing queen, or give them a
queen yourself very soon, before they dwindle to nothing. You say yourself,
Scott, that they are not building. Does that not tell you something? A hive
that does not build in the spring has got a problem.

    As to the queen chewing the cell, I am dubious that is was the old queen.
It's much more likely it was a virgin queen.  If it was the old queen, it is
an anomoly I have never seen, and have no idea what is going on.....

[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
The Pollination Home Page:    http://www.pollinator.com

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm