Queen cell

Queen cells are built by honey bees on honeycomb special cells that have the purpose therein rear a queen bee.

Description

Because the queen is the largest bee in the hive, the queen cells are significantly larger than the other cells (2 cm ) and have vertically downward. The laid by the queen in the queen cell fertilized egg is fed by the nurse bees as a grub exclusively produced in glands lining their own jelly ( royal jelly ) and develops as a queen. Mature larvae of the remaining brood, however, get food as a mixture of nectar and pollen. Because only the divergences in feeding that evolved instead of a worker a queen, the royal jelly a special, healing and rejuvenating effect is attributed.

Queen cells occur naturally in bee colonies during the swarming impulse ( swarm cells) or as so-called Nachschaffungszellen when the queen dies or their egg production (the ability to lay eggs ) decreases by one to old age. In certain breeding practices the queen cells ( wells ) are either produced by the beekeepers themselves from beeswax or bought ready-made from plastic. Then young bee larvae, which are one to two days old, reburied from multiplication appreciate peoples with a Umlarvlöffel in these cells. This process is called Umlarven.

• Beekeeping