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Queen cells in late September — swarm, supersedure or emergency? How to read them and what to do now

Yorkshire, first year, two hives, and I thought queen cells were a spring problem. Went into hive two yesterday for a quick stores check and found three sealed queen cells. Two are on the face of the comb in the middle of the brood nest, quite close together; the third is near the bottom bar of the same frame. I did see the queen — a 2026 white-dot from the nuc — and there are eggs, though the pattern's a bit thin. I've read the theory: swarm cells along the bottom, lots of them; supersedure cells on the face, one to three; emergency cells built out of worker cells with the queen gone. But mine are a bit of everything and it's nearly October. Drones are being thrown out of both hives every afternoon. So what are these, and what do I do? Leave them and hope? Cut them out and trust the queen? Something else?
#queen-cells#supersedure#late-season#emergency-cells
▲ 1 votes 💬 1 replies
1 reply
muglabalci · Sep 25, 2026
The queen present, laying, and cells on the comb face: supersedure. Position matters less than the bees' behaviour, and bees that are about to swarm do not keep a queen laying thinly next to sealed cells in late September. In Muğla I would let it play out — I still have drones flying in October. In Yorkshire you do not, and that changes everything: a virgin emerging next week has almost no chance of mating. The bees' plan is good; the calendar is wrong.
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