Queen cell with hole in side; pupae chewed or completely removed; chewed cells remain with a hole in the side for a time following the queen's death.
When a virgin queen emerges, she locates other queen cells of potential rival virgin queens and eliminates them one at a time by chewing a hole in the potential rival queen cell. This signals workers to remove (cannibalize) the developing queen.
This behavior occurs most frequently during swarming and when numerous emergency queen cells occur in a colony as part of queen replacementqueen replacement:
removal of an old queen and installation of a new queen in a bee colony
. In both instances there will be several queen cells developing.
Queen cells with a hole in the side are not normal; successful queen emergence will be via the tip of the cell. Cells with holes or from which queens have successfully emerged may persist for a week or more after queen replacementqueen replacement:
removal of an old queen and installation of a new queen in a bee colony
behaviors are finished.
It is possible to protect developing queen cells with a cell protector cage to prevent injury to side of a queen cell.
swarm queen cell, emergency queen cells, queen fighting
Shaw W. 2010. There are queen cells in my hive, what should I do? Welsh Beekeepers’ Association. 25 pp.https://wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/wbka-booklet-english-PDF.pdf
Caron DM and Greve C. 1979. Destruction of queen cells placed in queenrightqueenright:
a colony with a healthy, worker egg-laying queen; the opposite of a queenless colony
Apis mellifera colonies. Annual Entomological Society of America. 72: 405. link to this article
Milbrath M. 2020. Working with queen cells. American Bee Journal. Accessed 2023. https://americanbeejournal.com/working-with-queen-cells/
Anton K and Grozinger C. 2023 update. Beekeeping: Cell Builder Basics. PennState Extension. Accessed 2023. https://extension.psu.edu/beekeeping-cell-builder-basics
“Queen Bees Battle to the Death”. Facebook, uploaded by Animal Planet, 28 August 2018. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=308758423003650
