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Red Queencell Cups |
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Many years ago I wondered what the bees did with the wax from queencells that they re-distributed after emergence of the queen.
I decided I would find out... So I made some beeswax cellcups that were red in colour The colouring was red wax that came from the rind of Edam cheese.
The red cups were grafted in the normal way and were 95% accepted by the bees. They still showed a fair amount of red colouration by the time that they were sealed.
The cells were transferred to five frame nucs for emergence and a few days after this should have happened I inspected the nucs.
Unfortunately, by this time all that there was left of the red coloured wax was a ghost of a smear where the queencells had been placed for emergence.
No conclusions could be drawn, other than that the material had been widely distributed throughout the hive.
Written... in late 2000, Upgraded... 20 November 2005,
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