Many eggs in one cell - ?

**David LaFerney** · 04-19-2011, 07:47 PM

I was taking grafts today from a friends hive that he started from a Jennifer Berry nuc a week or so ago - not a lot of drawn comb besides the original 5 yet. Nice mild mannered bees by the way.

Anyway the brood frame I was using had something - eggs, open brood, capped brood, a little nectar and pollen - in almost every single cell on the entire frame. A totally solid pattern. I also spotted a couple of cells that had many eggs in them - too many to count.

I guess this is just a case of a very prolific queen running out of room to lay and couldn't hold it any longer. Something I haven't seen before - that's not saying a lot though.

**KQ6AR** · 04-19-2011, 08:40 PM

You're guess could be correct. I've heard of it happening.

**Michael Bush** · 04-19-2011, 08:58 PM

Doubles and even triples could be a queen that is just getting the hang of it or one that ran out of room.
http://bushfarms.com/beesfallacies.htm#doubleeggs

But "too many to count" sounds like a laying worker. The rest of your description, however sounds like you have a laying queen, so is it possible you are mistaking some granulation of nectar for eggs?
http://bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm

**deejaycee** · 04-19-2011, 09:03 PM

I've seen multiple eggs (definitely queen laid) from new queens just shorting their act out and, also as you describe, from a queen who us just too confined and hasn't slowed down in response - in those cases young queens in five frame nucs where weather has delayed me giving them more room.

**David LaFerney** · 04-20-2011, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by Michael Bush

Doubles and even triples could be a queen that is just getting the hang of it or one that ran out of room.
http://bushfarms.com/beesfallacies.htm#doubleeggs

But "too many to count" sounds like a laying worker. The rest of your description, however sounds like you have a laying queen, so is it possible you are mistaking some granulation of nectar for eggs?
http://bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm

Nope- as I mentioned I was grafting at the time, and I was looking through a lighted desk magnifier. They were eggs. Also as I mentioned there was an exceptionally solid brood patern. Not what you would expect from a laying worker.

**David LaFerney** · 04-20-2011, 06:03 AM

Originally Posted by deejaycee

I've seen multiple eggs (definitely queen laid) from new queens just shorting their act out and, also as you describe, from a queen who us just too confined and hasn't slowed down in response - in those cases young queens in five frame nucs where weather has delayed me giving them more room.

That's reasuring.

**AstroBee** · 04-20-2011, 07:31 AM

I've also seen multiple eggs in a small nuc that was definitely queenright. They were struggling with not having enough bees to cover much brood.

**fish_stix** · 04-20-2011, 08:38 AM

Next time you go in there you'll probably find swarm cells. Transfer them to a hive body and get them some room to lay!

**David LaFerney** · 04-20-2011, 11:51 AM

Actually they're in a hive body they just haven't drawn out much new comb yet. They belong to a friend - my opinion was that he should give them a box of drawn comb - which he has. Other than that It's out of my hands.

**BMAC** · 04-20-2011, 11:56 AM

sounds like all is well. A couple of my queen right splits have queens popping in a couple extra here and there.

Whenever I run across those I take a careful look at the position of the cells that have 1 egg in them to see if they are centered. I also carefully examine to see if any are on the side walls of the cell to help determine if its a laying worker issue or not.