Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Signs of a laying worker.
Thought it was a good picture so thought I would pass it along.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232929

ski, thanks for sharing,

That is a great picture of laying workers!
I feel for the owner of that hive.

I encountered the challenge of laying workers in June.
I maintain nucs so I will always have a extra queen on hand for just such an occasion but,
I missed it until I had laying workers. Shame on me!
I understand why most people just do a shake out and store the equipment!
It's a lot of work to overcome a laying worker hive!
Norma

I checked 2 hives after the State meeting last Saturday and suspected 1 was not only queenless, but had gone laying worker. It had a good number of workers in the hive, but only scattered capped drone brood in locations where worker brood should have been. I put a frame with eggs from the other hive into this one. I checked it yesterday (Thursday) and the bees showed no interest in that frame of eggs OR in several frames with multiple eggs in the cells. I don't have much hope for the hive.

My plan is to work toward shaking out the bees while not giving up all hope. It has a deep and 3 mediums. I plan on adding a frame of eggs each Saturday for the next 2 weeks while also removing a medium each of those 2 weeks. I don't know if removing multiple eggs will increase the chances the remaining bees will take interest in the frame of fertile eggs, but it will at least reduce the amount of equipment I will eventually need to take home. If after 3 rounds of new eggs they show no interest in making a queen, I will shake out the bees and let them take their chances being accepted at the other hive at that location.

Does anyone have any other suggestions or a better plan of action for me?

My only suggestion would be shake them now and save three weeks work.

Wally is right, it's alot of work!
It is a challenge to save a laying worker hive, the shake out is simple and fast.

You have to decide....if you attempt to save the hive, a shake out may still be in your furture!

Question: Did you leave the nurse bees on the frame you transferred?
You might want to add a frame of capped brood/emerging bees,
just to ensure you have young nurse bees capable of producing the royal jelly required in creating a queen!
If you decide to add a frame of capped brood/emerging bees shake off the bees before adding it to laying worker hive.

Make sure your queen is NOT on any frames you transfer!

No work was necessary other than to bring the hive home for the freezer. I found very few bees in the hive and the beginnings of a small hive beetle infestation today. I examined the comb for other problems, and finding none, took it home and placed it in the freezer. If I had let it go another week I hate to think about what the SHB would have done to the remaining honey and comb. I now have a deep and 2 mediums worth of drawn comb that can be used another day on another hive. Most of the workers must have aged out or maybe abandoned ship to the healthy, queenright hive next to it.