Honey.ie A site by beekeepers dedicated to the production of Honey

Supersedure

Supersedure is the process by which an old queen bee is replaced by a new queen. Supersedure may be initiated due to old age of a queen or a diseased or failing queen. As the queen ages her pheromone output diminishes. We had a Supersedure cell when we inspectied hives, you can see this in the photo bleow

Supersedure may be forced by a beekeeper, so that she will be unable to properly place her eggs at the bottom of the brood cell. The workers will detect this and will then rear replacement queens.

When a new queen is available, the workers will kill the reigning queen by “balling” her, colloquially known as “cuddle death”; clustering tightly around her until she dies from overheating.

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