Laying worker

[bregester]

Hey everyone,
I represent the beekeepers club at NC State, but I am originally from Guilford County and really appreciate this resource.

The beekeepers club installed two colonies in early April, and one of them is giving us problems. I was hoping someone here could give us some advice about how to move forward. Last week, we thought this colony was queenless because we found signs of a laying worker, no worker brood, and we could not find the queen. Today, we were planning to introduce a new queen, but we actually found the old queen while we were inspecting. We also found a few new queen cells. I read that trying to requeen is not usually successful in the case of a laying worker, and that the best thing to do is combine with a strong colony. However, we don't have another strong colony since our other one is also pretty new.

I'm pretty stumped about how to move forward, and I was hoping someone could give us some advice. We still have another queen if we need to requeen, and it looks like the bees are making a new one anyway, but I am worried about their numbers since I haven't seen any worker brood since we set up the colony.

Thanks a lot,
Ben Regester

[Jacobs]

What signs of laying worker did you see. If you were seeing more than 2 eggs in cells and/or eggs on top of pollen, those would indicate laying worker. If you were seeing some cells with 2 eggs, this could indicate a queen that is just starting to lay. I haven't seen a situation where there was a queen in the hive and significant issues of laying worker bees. That being said, I haven't seen all there is to be seen in beekeeping.

[Wally]

If there was no other brood besides the queen cells, remove them. They are not viable. I would remove the queen you found and place in another box with 2 frames of some honey and pollen. Then I would place the new queen in the box with no possible route to escape. After 3 days, check both queens. If the 2 frame queen isn't laying, I would dispose of her. If she is, you can begin to build another nuc with her. If the bees in the hive are ignoring the caged queen, there are laying workers. If they are covering her and feeding her, remove the cork and let them release her in a couple of days. If it is a laying worker hive, carry the frames out about 5 feet in front of the good hive and shake all the bees off. They will take up with the good hive. Then in a couple of weeks, split the hive. Give the caged queen to a fellow beekeeper.

[bregester]

What signs of laying worker did you see. If you were seeing more than 2 eggs in cells and/or eggs on top of pollen, those would indicate laying worker. If you were seeing some cells with 2 eggs, this could indicate a queen that is just starting to lay. I haven't seen a situation where there was a queen in the hive and significant issues of laying worker bees. That being said, I haven't seen all there is to be seen in beekeeping.

I only saw two eggs per cell. We installed this queen on April 2. I figured it was a worker since the queen has been in the hive for over a month, but is that a good assumption? I have seen no worker brood so far but we do have some drone brood.

[Jacobs]

I don't see any way a queen installed on April 2 should be laying doubles. If you haven't had fertilized eggs laid in the hive, like Wally said, there is no way they could produce a viable queen cell. I would go with Wally's advice. It gives you a good shot at determining what is going on AND a good shot at getting a desireable outcome.

[DuaneB]

I have a definite laying worker hive. If I put a new virgin queen in the hive, will they kill her?

Thanks.

[Wally]

Either that or ignore her and leave her in the cage.

[Jacobs]

They generally won't accept a mated queen but I'm not sure about a virgin. Didn't Nancy Ruppert say something about a virgin queen less than 3 days old not having the pheromone profile of an older virgin queen? I think she was saying this at the Beez Needz field day in the context of a direct introduction of a virgin queen to a colony, not laying worker. How much of a citizen scientist/gambler are you?

[DuaneB]

That is what I heard too. Was wondering if that was the case for a laying worker too. I put a 5 frame nuc into a Queenless colony and that worked well.