The books / Swarming and Increase / chapter 3 of 15
Swarm cells and supersedure cells
All chapters
- Reproduction, not disaster
- The four triggers
- Swarm cells and supersedure cells
- Egg to capped in eight or nine days
- Why seven days
- Reading the signs
- Give them room first
- Cutting cells is not a plan
- Pagden's artificial swarm
- The Demaree method
- The nucleus split
- The bait hive
- After the swarm
- Growing an apiary for nothing
- Laying room is not storage
Not every queen cell means the same thing, and mistaking one kind for the other is one of the most common beginner errors.
A single cell, built centrally on the face of a frame, usually means supersedure: the colony has judged its own queen failing and is quietly replacing her without any intention of swarming.
A row of several cells hanging along the bottom bar of the frames is a different message entirely, the unmistakable sign of an active swarm plan already underway. Beginners often see a few cells and decide they are not urgent, or confuse a bottom row for a stray supersedure attempt.