Egg laying worker question

[Oyster]

If the queen has been missing for an extended time and some worker bees begin to lay eggs, I assume they would lay eggs in drone cells since all resultant bees would be drones. If they ran out of drone cells, would they then use worker cells and cap them flat as opposed to the bullet shape of normal drone cells, or would the bees create more drone cells to fill and ignore the worker cells? I realize that drone eggs layed in worker cells would not have enough room to mature, but I was curious if the size of the cell dictates the type of cap placed on it.

[Tors]

No they lay drone eggs in worker cells to produce small drones.

Alex King (K142)

[Michael Bush]

Laying workers lay willy nilly. They lay on top of pollen, in worker cells (on the sides), in drone cells (on the bottom) and they lay LOTS of eggs in everything. They do seem to prefer reaching the bottom or I wouldn't think they be laying on the pollen as they do.

[Oyster]

But are the caps bullet shaped to signify a drone is developing, or can the caps be any shape? If they are any shape, a beekeeper might not know if a queen is missing because flat caps would lead one to believe that workers are being raised. I have a hard time at my age seeing eggs, so absent finding the queen, I often rely on worker cell caps to ensure that I have a queen. If the cells of eggs layed by workers have flat caps, the situation can drag on until the beekeeper notices an inordinate percentage of drones, at which time the survival of the colony is probably beyond hope.

[Michael Bush]

>But are the caps bullet shaped to signify a drone is developing

Always.

> or can the caps be any shape?

Drone caps are always bullet shaped.

> If they are any shape, a beekeeper might not know if a queen is missing because flat caps would lead one to believe that workers are being raised.

That's not a problem.

> I have a hard time at my age seeing eggs, so absent finding the queen, I often rely on worker cell caps to ensure that I have a queen.

That's the right method.

[skidmld]

Oyster, thanks for asking that question, and MB thank you for answering it so cleary.
I asked that same question at a beekeepers meeting , but didn't get an answer.

[MichaelW]

I have a laying worker question also.

I have this hive, its now 3 mediums and a deep. It had a week queen in it early this spring so I combined lots of bees and comb when I had some avaliable. About a month ago, it began supersedure. It had one capped queen cell and no other queen cells. It had a laying queen, but not lots of brood. I removed the frame with the queen cell to make a split and knew this was a mistake as I was doing it. Don't know why I did it anyway. The hive soon raised another suprecedure cell and it was capped.

Presently this new queen should be mated by this weekend. Yesterday I found some eggs and larvae as normal, not alot, but single eggs in cells, larvae, and flat capped brood. But I also found cells loaded with eggs from possibly a laying worker. Not 2 eggs per cell, but more like 4 - 5 eggs per cell.

Could I have a laying queen, a laying worker, and a virgin queen all in the same hive?

What to do? This hive has lots of bees and is making honey pretty good, so I hate to shake it all out, especially if there may be a new queen ready to lay any time.

[Michael Bush]

>Could I have a laying queen, a laying worker, and a virgin queen all in the same hive?

Not common, but yes. I think they all have laying workers, but they are usually under control. A virgin and a laying queen is common in a supercedure.

>What to do? This hive has lots of bees and is making honey pretty good, so I hate to shake it all out, especially if there may be a new queen ready to lay any time.

Give them a frame of brood every week for the next three and I'll bet the bees will sort it out.

[MichaelW]

Thanks Michael,

Brood is getting scarce in my apiary right now due to splitting.
The hive has a few frames of brood right now from the old queen. Is a few frames OK, or are you saying I should add additional brood frames?

Hopefully in one week, brood will be plentiful in some new hives.

[Michael Bush]

I'm saying one frame of open brood every week for two or three weeks will usually straighten out any laying worker or queenless issues. If you don't have them, you don't have them.

[Oyster]

Michael,

Thanks for clarifying the bullet shape question. Now I have no doubt when looking at the cells cappings as to what lies beneath.


skidmld,

I know what you mean about the bee clubs. I belong to one, and it is a great means of socializing and networking, but since we meet only once a month, I find this forum FAR more timely, educational and helpful.

[All Organic Bees]

But you have to remember, its the clubs that keep beekeeping going. the club members are the ones that go and set up booths at fairs and other places. They need all the members they can get. The clubs are there to help new beekeepers. The amout of help you get depends upon the beekeepers in club also though.