A queen cup is a cup-like beeswax cell that a queen will use to lay a fertilized egg in supersedure or swarming behavior. It is the initiation of queen replacementqueen replacement:
removal of an old queen and installation of a new queen in a bee colony
behavior for a queenrightqueenright:
a colony with a healthy, worker egg-laying queen; the opposite of a queenless colony
colony. Queen cups open vertically downward, resembling a tiny beeswax cup
When occupied, a queen cup is then termed a queen cell. Beeswax is added and the cell grows as the larval stages molt (once a day) into a peanut-shaped beeswax-capped cell that holds a developing queen.
Bee-Heath. 2021. Queen Replacement (Basic Bee Biology for Beekeepers). Bee Health. Accessed 2023. https://bee-health.extension.org/queen-replacement-basic-bee-biology-for-beekeepers/
Anderson C. 2023. Queen Cell Timeline. Carolina HoneybeesCarolina Honeybees:
Carolina Honeybees. Accessed October 2022. https://carolinahoneybees.com/. Accessed 2023. https://carolinahoneybees.com/stages-of-queen-cells/
