Emergency, supersedure or swarm cells… or play cups!
Swarm cells, supersedure cells, and emergency queen cells are all types of queen cells found in honeybee colonies, and they serve different purposes in the reproductive cycle of the colony. In this blog post, I will break down the differences to help you identify these cells in your own hives and know when you need to take action.
Swarm Cells
Purpose: Swarm cells are created when a honeybee colony decides to reproduce by swarming. Swarming is the natural process of colony reproduction where a new queen is raised, and a portion of the workers along with the old queen leave the hive to form a new colony. Swarm cells are recognisable by their number, shape, size and orientation to the comb. The best way to describe them is they look like a slightly straighter version of peanuts in their shells. They hang down from the face of the comb and run parallel to the where the foundation sits.
Location: They can appear ANYWHERE on the frame. Don’t be fooled by the old myth of cell positioning. Swarm cells can be found on the sides, face or pretty much anywhere in the beehive. What sets them apart from supersedure cells is the number of them present in a hive. If it’s any more than ONE cell, I treat it as swarming.
Timing: Swarm cells are initiated in preparation for the swarming season, usually in the spring or early summer. This is why you need to complete regular, weekly inspections throughout the season, but with a particular focus on the swarming period, which in the UK is between late April and July. After the longest day of the year, the desire to swarm does go down, but it never fully goes away and can be triggered by overcrowding late in to the season.
Action: If you find swarm cells, you must take immediate action. If you all of the cells are uncapped and the queen is present, you can make an artificial swarm following the video below.
If all the cells are capped and there is no queen, you need to remove ALL but one of the cells and let the colony requeen naturally, OR, remove ALL off the cells and add a mated queen, which you can buy HERE - https://www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk/buyqueenbees
Supersedure Cells
Purpose: Supersedure cells are created when the colony perceives a decline in the performance or health of the current queen. The workers raise a new queen to replace the existing one in the form of a single (or very occasionally two) supersedure cell.
Location: Supersedure cells can be found anywhere but are often found in the middle of the comb or on the face of the comb and they are fewer in number compared to swarm cells but they look exactly the same. This is slightly different to the advice above. I don’t think I have ever found a single supersedure cell anywhere other than the centre of a frame, but I have found lots of swarm cells in the centre of the frame, so there is some logic to the myth. What’s more important is the number. A single cell in a colony indicates supersedure. Multiple cells indicate swarming.
Timing: Supersedure cells can be initiated at various times, depending on the colony's assessment of the queen's condition. It can happen in any season.
Action: The action to take for supersedure cells depends on the time of the year and your appetite for risk. Also be aware of false supersedure. I will cover them all below:
False supersedure occurs sometimes when introducing perfectly good new mated queens. The bees in the colony try to force a supersedure after the first round of eggs are laid to attempt to keep some of their genetics in the mix (futile attempt). If this happens, you can safely remove the supersedure cells and just the let the new queen get on with it. You can do this 2 or 3 times. If it keeps on happening, there may be an issue but it’s very rare.
If you find a supersedure cell outside of the queen mating season, it’s best to remove it and see if there are mated queens available for sale. You can buy our mated queen bees for sale here between April and September.
If you are in the UK and you find a supersedure cell between May-August, you can safely leave the bees to naturally supersede and you will likely have two queens in the colony at once. They will dispatch the older queen once they are comfortable that the supersedure queen is properly mated.
Emergency Queen Cells
Purpose: Emergency queen cells are created as a response to the sudden loss or death of the existing queen. They serve as a quick solution to replace the queen to prevent the colony from becoming queenless.
Location: Emergency queen cells are usually built in a hurry and can be found in various locations on the comb. They are often irregular in shape and placement. They are distinctly different from swarm or supersedure cells in that they have a 90 degree bend where a regular larvae is fed royal jelly in an emergency response to produce a queen bee.
Timing: Emergency queen cells are initiated urgently when the colony faces an immediate need for a new queen due to the unexpected loss of the existing one.
Action: If you open your colony up and unexpectedly find emergency cells, something has gone badly wrong. The most likely cause is that you have accidently killed the queen on the previous inspection. The best course of action, assuming they are all capped over and not emerged, is to remove all the emergency queen cells and introduce a new mated queen. This fixes the problem very quickly. You can buy our mated queen bees here:
BONUS – Play Cups
Purpose: Play cups are swarm or supersedure cells that the queen hasn’t laid an egg into. They are often mistaken for swarm cells but as long as they are empty, they are a perfectly normal occurrence in the beehive.
Location: Play cups can be found in all locations on a frame.
Timing: Play cups are generally initiated prior to and during the swarming season.
Action: So long as there are no eggs or larvae in the play cups, they can be safely ignored. If they are charged with royal jelly, keep a close eye on them. If they charged with royal jelly and have a larvae in, then depending on the number of cells, treat them as a swarm or supersedure cells, as above.
Conclusion
In summary, while all three types of queen cells involve the production of new queens, the specific triggers, locations, and timings differ. Swarm cells are associated with the natural process of swarming, supersedure cells are created to replace an underperforming queen, and emergency queen cells are produced in response to the sudden loss of the queen.
