sometimes things have to be explained like I am 2

[bee-nuts]

"but i do have a hive that almost always has queen cells in it. not swarm cells"

Thats is a Russian characteristic, is it not?

"Gotta hand to you long-timers, especially when several of you are involved. The rest of us can learn lots if we're paying attention, so thanks"

Yeah what he said, keep the opinions flying.  Its amaizing what you can learn when you just sit back and listen.

[Brian D. Bray]

Russian, Carnolian, and Caucasian bees all are prone to keeping queen cells/caps handy.  It is not unusual for me to see as many as many a 6 queen caps on a single side of a frame. Next time I look they may all be gone.  Building and tearing down queen caps (they ain't a cell until it has an egg) gives the bad girls work-release.

BTW, on the subject of queen cells from drone eggs:  Any queen reared from a drone cell is going to be a Drag Queen.

[hardwood]

 

[bee-nuts]

Kathy was referring to queen cells (I believe) not cups.  My Italians usually have at least a few queen cups or play cups around.  Russians though have queen cells present much of the time even if they have no intention of swarming according to to the literature I have read.  That is what I was referring too.  I am under the impression that kathy was referring to a colony that exhibits this behavior.

[kathyp]

i was.  real queen cells.  another interesting thing about this hive is that the cells will be the same age.  there may be only a couple, or 1/2 a dozen, but they'll be the same age.  it's a hive i'd love to have a camera in.  i don't even remember where they came from, but i think they were a swarm from a bee tree.

[slacker361]

My first and only hive did that last year, scared me that I was doing something wrong, they never swarmed, and these cells kept comming and going .   seem like the bee union was trying to send a message to the queen  LOL