What are they worth

[Shorty]

After winter I have one hive, about a softball size cluster, the queen is present, but she is laying more then one egg in a cell. how much effert are they worth? was a good hive last year.

[BuzzyBee]

Usually two eggs in cells indicates a laying worker which means the hive is queenless. I've never tried introducing a new queen to a hive with a laying worker, but from what I've heard and read, the bees treat the laying worker as if she were a queen and will kill another queen if you try to introduce her.

Good luck,

BB

[Cedar Hill]

Are you sure that you have a queen? In periods of extreme dearth or with very young queens the queen might lay more than one egg in a cell, however this is highly abnormal. Sounds like a laying worker as was mentioned. How much effort to put into it? What are the eggs turning out to be? Small drones? In that case, I would try to get a fellow beekeeper to sell you a nuke of day old eggs and brood (about 3 frames). But before this, bring the hive elsewhere and shake all the bees out and then put the hive at its original spot. The drone layers may not find their way back. Then introduce the nuke having day old eggs with the remaining bees that have returned. May or may not work but since you have the equipment, it's worth a shot. OMTCW

[bnatural]

As has been pointed out, it is hard to introduce a new queen to a hive with a laying worker, but it can be done. Last year I got two packages with inferior queens (they were the smallest queens I had ever seen). When I checked them a week after introduction, there was no sign of either queen and no eggs. I waited another week before determining they were both gone. By the time I got new queens at week three+, both hives had laying workers. I put the queen cages in LEAVING the cork in place over the candy plug, and sprayed down both hives with syrup containing essential oils (the HBH recipe found in this forum). After three days I removed the corks and left the candy in place, again spraying the bees. A week later the queens had been released and both were laying. A year later they are heading up very nice NWC colonies.

Maybe I just got lucky, but it is another method that might be worth trying. If anyone wants to offer an opinion on my degree of luck, I'd like to know, because I've filed that method away in my 'bag of tricks.'

Bill

[LBEE]

Hi Shorty!

You said that there was more than one egg in a cell. Where were the eggs located? Was it at the base (bottom) of the cell or on the sides of the cell? If the eggs were at the base of the cell, then you do have a queen. If the eggs are all on the sides of the cells, it is very unlikely that you have a queen.


Larry

[bleta12]

Just shake the bees and put that deep on top a strong hive.
Don't waist time with it. Few weeks latter you can get that deep and introduce a queen and be in much better shape, if you want to recoup the numbers.
Gilman

[Tom G. Laury]

Do what bleta12 says.

[sierrabees]

If you mark your queens, the last post applies. If you don't mark your queens there is another possability. If a queen fails this time of year, it's possable in your area for your bees to successfully supercede because there should be a few early drones around. It is not uncommon for a young queen to lay multiple eggs in a cell when she is first getting the hang of the job. I would give it a month and check again. If you have a good egg pattern and normal brood cappings I would order a new queen (on the assumption that such an early queen might fail after a short time) and re-queen. If multiple eggs are still present and you have domed cappings on worker cells,shake the whole lot on the ground near your other hives, remove all the equipment, go home, pop a beer and open up beesource so you can talk about it. Any viable bees will find a new home and the laying worker won't be accepted into a queenright hive.

[tecumseh]

an alternative to the solutions above, I am assuming your season is just beginning??? I suspect you do have a queen who is laying quite oddly only due to insufficient population to clean and polish cells ahead of her laying.

if you have a modestly populated hive (with something of a honey cap on top) do a paper combine with a queen excluder. place the weak hive on top... seperated by queen excluder and newspaper. make certain top entrance is allowed for top hive on opposite side from the bottom hive. allow a week or so for two hives to cut thru paper and then intermingle. the couple of times I have done this the queen in the weaker hives begins laying up quite rapidly simply with the addition of heat from the bottom hive plus a bit of population to support brood rearing. after 10 days to 2 weeks and on a modestly nice day place the bottom hive in the position of the bottom hive with the entrance approximately in the same location.... I typically simply slide the old hive sideways (left or right) from it original location.

[Shorty]

Thanks to all who answered. I did see a queen, and I don't think its a young one, so that makes it one gone bad. and yes the season is just begining.

[sqkcrk]

Knock it in the head and start over again.

bnatural, lots of things can be done. But is it worth the time and expense when there are more potentially successful methods? In this case, from way over here, I don't think so. Under other circumstances I would say differently.