Cells at this time of the season used mainly for swarming and some re-queening of queenless colonies. For swarming colonies we split the hive and put a cell in each side without checking for the queen. The emergent virgin will mate and start laying in about 10 days usually superseding the old queen.
Before a cell can be introduced into a strange colony it needs to be protected from the workers, here is a sealed queen cell 6 days after grafting we are using baking foil wrapped round the cell.
The image below shows the cell with the end exposed, this allows the queen to emerge, this area is never damaged by the bees, presumably there are pheromones located in the tip which signal to the bees to leave it alone.
The cells are transported in a specifically designed incubator called the Carricell, which protects the cells in the foam pockets and maintains the correct temperature with a small panel heater under the foam block.
You can see from above the Carricell is of a robust construction and that the heating element is powered from the cigar lighter
Stopping for a break and admiring the view
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