Queen cell in an apidea

This is something you do not want to see in an apidea.
apidea-queen-cell

It means either that the queen has been superseded or else the introduced queen or queen cell has been rejected and the bees have elected to make their own from a larva already present. A queen like this needs to be removed as there has been a loss of control over the genetics and the queen could be a hybrid.

About Jonathan Getty

Jonathan Getty is a member of the Belfast & District branch of the Ulster Beekeepers Association and is at least a fourth generation beekeeper in the Getty family. His main beekeeping interest is queen rearing based on our native bee Apis mellifera mellifera. He started up the Belfast Minnowburn queenrearing group several years ago and it now has about 50 active members. He also manages about 30-40 colonies of his own. Jonathan holds a BSc Hons in Psychology from Queens University Belfast and gained a postgraduate teaching qualification at Stranmillis Training College. He is a fluent Spanish speaker.
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