Colony Division and Queen Replacement

1 . What is happening back in the parent colony just after the swarm leaves?

Colony is queenless for a few days until the capped queen cells start to emerge. Workers may let rival queens kill each other or they may guard them (imprison new queens in their cells and don’t let them emerge thus protecting them from being killed by a rival queen.)

2 . What is piping?

Exchange of audible sounds queens make inside their capped cells to communicate with each other (ever wonder what they are saying to each other?)

3 . What is a secondary swarm (afterswarm)?

A swarm after the prime swarm. Bees agitate a newly emerged daughter queen (virgin) so she flies off with another swarm and the colony divides a second time. The process repeats itself until the colony is too weak to be split anymore.

4 . What is supersedure and how is that different from swarming?

Usually happens when the queen is failing and does not involve swarming. Workers replace the failing queen.

5 . How do worker bees know that queen is failing?

Reduced egg production and reduced production of 9ODA (queen pheromone).

6 . Are supersedure queens better or worse than queens made in response to swarming? Why?

Supersedure queens tend to be inferior to queens made for swarming because worker bees may choose larvae for producing the queen cells that are more than the optimum 12-hour old window.