Frame Guide › Queen problems
Empty Queen Cups: what it looks like on the frame
Mid-April · the colony is building fast. Along the bottom bars you find these.
Short, open cups along the bottom edge, and you can see straight into them — no egg, no larva, no royal jelly. Most strong colonies build these 'play cups' every spring and many never use them. A cup only becomes a queen cell once there's something in it.
Look inside the cups, give room, and check again in a week
Empty cups are a warning light, not an alarm. Make sure the queen has space to lay and the bees have room for nectar, then come back in 7 days. An egg or a larva floating in jelly in those cups is when it's time to split.
Easy to mistake for
- Swarm CellsEarly May · booming population, bees boiling out the front.
- Supersedure CellsNothing dramatic. The pattern has just gotten patchy lately.
- Emergency Queen CellsYou rolled the queen ten days ago. This is the same colony now.
Could you spot this with the lid off?
Read the Frame deals you 8 random frames. Say what you see, say what you'd do, and find out why. It's free and runs on your phone.
Drill queen problems → Mixed round (all 32 frames) →More queen problems
- Healthy Brood PatternJune · a strong colony, bees calm and covering the comb.
- Laying WorkerA colony that's been loud and 'roary' for weeks. No calm hum.
- Swarm CellsEarly May · booming population, bees boiling out the front.
- Supersedure CellsNothing dramatic. The pattern has just gotten patchy lately.
- Drone-Laying QueenQueen is present, but the brood looks bumpy and raised all over.
- Emergency Queen CellsYou rolled the queen ten days ago. This is the same colony now.
- Can't Find the QueenYou went through every frame twice and never saw the queen.
- New Queen Laying Double EggsThe queen you introduced started laying five days ago.
- Waiting on a Virgin QueenThis colony swarmed 16 days ago. No eggs, no larvae anywhere.
These frames are drawn to teach the pattern, and real frames vary. From The Alleman Apiary in Middletown, PA.