Supersedure

This is not something you see every day - a queen beside a sealed queen cell.

Two days ago I did my first inspections of the year, taking advantage of the warm weather.  In the first hive the queen was on the very first frame, a sign that things were getting crowded.  The colony in hive three, by contrast, was small with lots of room and stores but not so many bees.  I found three frames with brood, including eggs, larvae and sealed cells but on the first of these there was a well developed queen cell containing a fair-sized larva.  I assumed this must be a supersedure cell but couldn't see the queen, even though the hive wasn't very busy.

As the weather has stayed warm and I wanted to check on what was going on I had another look today.  The queen cell was now sealed and a couple of inches away was the queen. (Most of her paint had worn off, perhaps partly explaining why I missed her the first time.)  As I watched she walked across to the queen cell and appeared to take an interest in it.  I whipped out the camera but this was the only shot I got of her on the cell before she moved.

Here she is partly underneath the queen cell.

The bees are a bit stroppy which is out of character and might also suggest a failing queen.  My plan now is to leave them alone for three weeks.  The new queen should emerge in 7 or 8 days from now and be mated in the following week, weather permitting.  It will be interesting to see who is in charge when I next look in.