supercedure cells

[Tracy]

hi there everyone, new beekeper question.... I have found what i beleive to be supersedure cells, peanut shaped and placed not quite halfway up from the bottom of frame. I see new eggs so I know the queen has been there fairly recently. There is all stages of development ,including honey and lots of polllen. It seems to me that all is going well. I have not actually laid eyes on the queen. Why would they be making these cells and what should i do?  Hope this is enough info.....Help   thanks Tracy

[Michael Bush]

>hi there everyone, new beekeper question.... I have found what i beleive to be supersedure cells, peanut shaped and placed not quite halfway up from the bottom of frame.

Capped?  With larvae in them?

If it's just an empty cup, it means nothing at all.  If it has larvae in it, it means they have percieved a fault in the current queen and are going to replace her.

>Why would they be making these cells

Because their assesment of the situation is not the same as yours.  I figure they know more about bee affairs than I do.

> and what should i do?

I would let them.  They may change their mind anway.  Remember they are in the awkward posotion that if they misjudge a situation and DON'T start a queen and that one fails they are hopelessly queenless, so they tend to err on the side of started queen cells if there is any question about the viability of the current queen.  Sometimes things go well and the decide to keep the old one instead.  Sometimes they keep the old one AND the new one until fall.