[Jareth Groves]

I'm 99% sure I've got a laying worker or a queen that's out of sperm. I couldn't spot cells with multiple eggs but I did see a few that seemed off center and a few on top of bee bread.

I couldn't find a queen in the hive but I'm pretty sure this is all drone brood, can anyone confirm?

https://imgur.com/a/kRNmiJL

 

[Jareth Groves]

My plan would be to try to introduce a new queen. I know people will sometimes dump the bees about 20 ft away as part of this process.

 

[Jareth Groves]

About 60% myself . Cannot tell if domed cells or just shallow cells from converted honey cells. Cells are only as tall as bottom bar. Is that the cluster or are there other frames with brood and bees?

There are 3 frames with brood in the same pattern. It all is domed like in this photo which made me think it was all drone brood.

 

[Jareth Groves]

pretty sure there is some worker brood in that pic. However the pattern definitely doesn't look all that great. I would say that is from a queen although she might be running out of steam, nutrition could be low in general in the hive (honey and pollen reserves) causing nurse bees to eat the eggs, or possibly Varroa is reaching high levels. Need more info though such as last known mite count or last mite treatment and what you used. Also status of stores in the hive.

I definitely don't think nutrition is the issue. The frames on both sides of the brood nest are pretty solidly packed with honey and pollen (six frames of honey at least). I treated this hive with formic acid the first week of September (I live in a warm climate) and the mite counts were at 2/300 following the treatment using the sugar roll method (including a 2 min rest after shaking and dissolving the sugar in water to count mites). They were at 8/300 prior to the treatment. In November I treated them with an oxalic vape without doing a count, just because they were broodless and the risk is low with said treatment).

 

[Jareth Groves]

That brood pattern is too solid for laying workers. Solid brood patterns like that can be confusing, as the domes can appear somewhat flat. Best way to assure if that is drone or worker brood is to scratch a few caps open and examine the pupa. You likely have a drone laying queen. Possible that they tried to replace the queen after the Formic treatment and she didn't mate. If you can't find her, try shaking all the bees thru an excluder. You'll need to eliminate her.

At that point, you can correct the problem as you see fit, with a frame of brood with eggs from which they'll pull a queen cell, adding a grafted queen cell, adding a purchased queen, or combining with another hive.

Ps. There is never "a" laying worker. When a hive goes laying worker, most of the bees in the hive are laying workers.

I'll see what I can do about finding a queen. I did put a mated queen on top of the frames and they responded positivity to her fanning and such which seemed weird if they have a queen.

 

[Jareth Groves]

I opened them back up today and definitely confirmed the issue is laying workers. Lots of cells with multiple eggs and eggs on the edges of cells. All the brood are drones.

Based on my reading I think this hive may be a lost cause as I don't want to pull too many resources from my stronger hives so early in the season.