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Help,Laying worker.

2K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Tim Vaughan 
#1 ·
One of my hives of bees has a laying worker,
It is full of drone brood, No workers.
I would like to requeen, How do I find the laying worker to get her out so the bees will accept the new queen? Or what should I do?
Tks for any help.
 
#2 ·
You can't find the LW. so if you put in a queen, they will think they already have a queen and kill the queen that you introduced. The Possible way around that is to give them a frame of open brood. Actually two frames one week apart. That should give the colony enough open brood pheromone to stop the laying worker. then you'll need to slowly introduce a queen over an entire week. that's three weeks of no brood for the hive.

You can see why most folk just shake them out.

Hawk
 
#3 ·
There may be more than one laying worker. Another way is to put two frames of mixed brood/larva from a nuc in with a queen between the frames. That usually works.

This time of year, I'd be inclined to move the hive you have to another hive/apiary and shake all the bees off all the frames and take the hive away. That way you might score some extra honey from them.

Regards
Tim
 
#4 ·
This late in the year I would just combine the box of laying workers over another queen right hive. I found for myself that it was rarely worth the effort to try and "fix" a laying worker problem. It was much easier to combine with another hive and split that hive later if I needed too.
 
#7 ·
I would move the weaker hive to the stand where the laying worker hive currently is. Then shake out the laying worker hive 150' or more away. The workers will return to the stand and combine with the weaker hive. I think you'll get a better result than the newspaper combine. The frames can be used to strengthen any hive that needs them if they have any assets worth using.
 
#8 ·
Tim Vaughn!

I have a stupid question for something that may be totally obvious. When you put the two frames with mixed brood and the queen into the L W colony are they screened (double) and are there workers to tend them? Or is it still open to the rest of the hive? Thanks! David
 
#9 ·
No, keep it simple. The workers from the nuc usually protect the queen just fine without screen, newspapers etc...Another trick is to use the hive tool to cut some comb on the top of a few frames and drip it over the top of the entire hive. That combined with smoking takes the bee's minds off the new neighbors.

But as I said, it's getting late, and unless you've a strong flow, I'd just simply take out the frames one by one and shake them right directly in front of another hive or two that is somewhat weak. I certainly wouldn't do it 150 feet from anywhere, but that's just me.

Regards
Tim
 
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