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Queens Cells <br /> SA colony may rear a new queen under one of three impulses: <br /> 1. Swarming is usually a sign of hive congestion and in nature is the mechanism by which a colony <br /> reproduces. Numerous queen cells are found often on the edges of the brood nest (Figure 12). <br /> 2. Supersedure occurs when the queen is failing (depleted spermatheca), damaged, or diseased. Queen <br /> cells are found on the face and lower edge of the combs (Figure 12). <br /> 3. Emergency queen rearing occurs when the queen is suddenly removed or is killed (often accidentally by <br /> the beekeeper). Queen cells are found on the face of the combs. <br /> As long as a queen produces adequate amounts of queen substance, the workers will not rear queens. Queen <br /> substance is a pheromone produced by the queen's mandibular glands.A pheromone is a chemical substance <br /> given off by one individual insect that causes a specific response by another individual of the same species. <br /> Queen substance regulates the behavior of the workers, such as inhibiting the construction of queen cells. <br /> r <br /> 1i' f i' pi <br /> � _ <br /> via,. "‘ii , . -, . . ,' "...,„,' .,....;.4 : , .. .,„It. : . ,.J: <br /> J „;-, r '-c . ' 4.�.. . <br /> 0 _ .., , <br /> 14 = `fir ../14f = <br /> )4 ' 7',it;': - N.ii **tt,: 4 41111h,: ' /.411..,. `i ffi,' .V is F..• N <br /> T y <br /> T <br /> )\ <br /> +� t <br /> p <br /> • <br /> E 11*- all Atis <br /> irA <br /> Figure 12.A supersedure cell on the face of a brood comb(left)and swarm cells on the bottom of the frame(right). <br /> To rear a new queen, the workers build special wax cells, or modify the wax around worker cells to form queen <br /> cups. The queen cups can be constructed around fertilized eggs and larvae, or the queen can lay an egg in an <br /> empty cup. To rear a queen, the nurse bees feed the developing larvae royal jelly, a highly nutritious secretion <br /> from glands in their heads (Figure 13). They secrete large amounts of royal jelly around the larva, and the <br /> larva consumes the food. To rear a worker bee, the nurse bees feed a different composition of royal jelly that <br /> contains less protein, sugars, and lipids. It is common for the bees to make queen cups that the queen does <br /> not lay an egg in. The presence of these "play cups” (Figure 14) does not indicate that the bees are trying to <br /> replace the queen. <br /> 0 <br /> Beekeeping in Northern Climates 11 <br />