On Thu, 6 May 1999, Susan and/or David Dannenberg wrote:

>  2. When I checked the hive after the first week (with the help of a
> beekeeper of six years experience) we were able to find the queen (she
> looked a lot bigger in just one week!) and she was laying but we also
> noticed weird wax formations in two places one fairly high on the
> foundation with a hole behind it (queen cell??) and one lower on a
> different frame. My friend removed the upper one and told me I should
> remove the lower one next time I go into the hive. I've been following the
> instructions in Dadant's First Lessons in Beekeeping and plan to open the
> hive the next sunny day. So... SHould I destroy the odd comb or let the
> bees do what they think best. ANything in particular to look for.

Hm, A six-year beekeeper who didn't tell you whether on not that was a queen
cell? Could do better.

Queen cells when first produced look like a small cup with the opening
pointing downwards. When the bees make them bigger, they start to look
like a peanut (groundnut) shell, hanging vertically. Bees fairly regularly
make a few cups but just ignore them, however when they start producing
numbers and they start getting longer, the bees are preparing to swarm so
you should take action. There are many things you can do, but the safest
for beginners (IMHO) is probably an `artificial swarm'. Don't be fooled
into believing that knocking-down the queen cells will stop them, as
mostly it'll just slow them down a bit. It's important to learn the life
cycle of the queen so you understand the timings for swarm management. As
beginners, you will lose a few swarms -- I think everyone does. That's
life. You just have to practice.

Other weird wax formations are `brace comb', where they build into the
gaps between combs to make thing more rigid and drone cells, which are
larger then worker cells and sometimes rather heavily constructed when
near the bottom of the comb, where the bees have filled up gaps with
fairly solid wax.

G.
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