YorkshireNewbee · Yorkshire, UK · Queens · Jul 14, 2026
Weird squeaking/quacking noises from a hive that has queen cells — should I be worried?
Yorkshire, first year, so please be gentle. My stronger hive swarmed two weeks ago (my fault, missed the cells) and I left it to requeen itself with the cells that remained.
Last night I put my ear against the brood box like a weirdo and heard actual NOISES. A sort of repeated high-pitched toot-toot-toot, and then a different, muffled quack-quack answering it. I genuinely thought I was imagining it but my partner heard it too.
Google says something about queens "piping" but I don't really understand what's happening in there or what it means for me. Is a queen trapped? Fighting? Is the hive about to swarm again? Do I need to do anything or just leave them to it?
#piping#virgin-queen#queen-cells#after-swarm
▲ 16 votes💬 4 replies✅ Solved
4 replies
AlpineCarnica · Jul 14, 2026 · ✅ Accepted answer
You are not imagining it — that's queen piping. The tooting is a virgin already emerged and running free on the combs; the quacking is her rivals still sealed in their cells, answering, held prisoner there by the workers. Either the free virgin kills them in their cells, or a very strong colony throws a cast swarm with her. Since yours already swarmed and lost half its bees, most likely they sort it out themselves. Do NOT open the hive for 2 weeks — a virgin needs quiet for her mating flights. Look for eggs in about 3 weeks.
KentishBee · Jul 14, 2026
I heard this for the first time last summer and stood in the garden grinning like an idiot. AlpineCarnica's advice is exactly what I was told — hands off, diary note for 3 weeks, resist the urge to peek. The peeking is the hard part.
PerthshireBees · Jul 14, 2026
One thing to watch from outside without opening up: if they do decide to cast, it'll usually be within a day or two of the piping, late morning on a decent day. Worth having an empty box and a sheet handy just in case. But odds are decent they've settled it internally.
YorkshireNewbee · Jul 15, 2026
Brilliant, thank you all. Diary marked for August 4th, hands firmly in pockets until then. No cast swarm so far and the piping stopped after two days, which I'm choosing to interpret as one queen having won.