Queen Cup Vs Queen Cell

BEEKEEPERSTIPS.COM

In this article, we take a look at the progression in a hive from the queen cup being made to it turning into a queen cell. There are many places in beekeeping where terms can get confusing.

There are triggers that cause bees to start making queen cells. If there is a drop in the amount of queen pheromone in the hive, the workers start queen rearing.

1.A Quick Recap Of How A Queen Bee Is Reared

Yellow Leaf
Green Leaf
Wavy Line
Squiggly Line

A queen cup is the start of the queen rearing process. The bees will sometimes make these without eggs being present in them.

2. What Is A Queen Cup

Off-white Section Separator
Yellow Leaf
Off-white Section Separator

What Is A Queen Cell?

When an egg is laid in a queen cup, and hatches and begins developing into a queen bee the queen cup begins its transition to a queen cell. 

3.

Off-white Section Separator

Some Ideas On What To Do If You Open The Hive and Find Queen Cups With Eggs Or Larvae

There are times when we open a hive and find the queen and find queen cups with eggs in them.

4.

If you have to remove queen cells and they are quite mature, it is a really fun task to give them to a little kid. Put the queen cell in a pill bottle and make a few holes in the lid. Small holes. 

5. Fun Things To Do With Extra Queen Cells

Off-white Section Separator
Yellow Leaf
Banner With Dots

ADVICE

The mesh segments from migratory lids and ventilated supers can be washed with alcohol to remove high-value medical propolis. Store the mesh and pipe segments for the next season after washing.

BEEKEEPERSTIPS.COM

Yellow Leaf

For more tips and articles, visit: