DLW question

[Cuckmere couple]

i have a nuc which was raising a queen and went to inspect to see if a mated queen was present

on opening nuc i found larvae which i thought was odd given that it would have meant the emerged q mated very quickly....

i couldn't find a queen but the eggs were at the bottom of cells and i didnt see multiples, but, i am suspecting a LW so will leave a few days and check again

here is the question....i did see a worker fully reversed into a cell. It was not emerging as clearly no brood but it was fully into the cell and face up....i touched it and it came out

is that a LW in action or do bees reverse into cells for lots of reasons?

 

[Boston Bees]

Would it be impossible that the Q is mated and laying by now?

If there are only single eggs, and they are at the bottom of the cell, that would seem most likely to be a queen?

I don't think worker bees reverse into cells for any reason apart from LW though (PS: there would be lots of LW, not one), so not sure what you saw (unless that was the queen )

 

[GuyNir]

Sounds like you caught one (of potentially a few) LW in action. Did you look in the cell after?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks BB....there is a chance....two weeks post date of emerging....small number of bees so easy to find q and yet failed....i will leave it a few days to check again and to see if the developed larvae, develops into drone or not (dark comb too and need to check again for multiple eggs)

was definitely a worker in the cell hence my interest in asking question

 

[Cuckmere couple]

Sounds like you caught one (of potentially a few) LW in action. Did you look in the cell after?

yes...and an egg in the bottom!

 

[Anduril]

yes...and an egg in the bottom!

B+ posted this Worker or queen?
Only once have I come across the queen under the third heading.

 

[Erichalfbee]

yes...and an egg in the bottom!

One workers does not lay lots of eggs in one cell ( and they can be at the bottom) she lays one egg and other laying workers come along and lay another.
A small number of workers lay eggs in a normal colony and the house bees then eat them
The only way to tell is to look at the capped brood.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks Dani and Anduril

interesting and thanks....i am pretty close to 100% certain that this was a worker...will keep an eye on it and respond on here when brood develops

so no other reason for a worker reversing into a cell that people know of it seems, v helpful

 

[Ian123]

If it’s 2 weeks from the date of an emerging virgin as you say, I’d suspect you have a laying queen. Ian

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks Ian

yes, could well have...but to share my thinking and anxiety i had a few red flags

1. it was 14 days from emerging, so was hoping to see eggs, although possibly a bit early given foul weather. What i saw was quite large patches of 7-8 day old larvae so if a queen, she was out and mated quite rapidly and during a cold, wet week - slight red flag/surprise
2. a queen/king cell charged and drawn to nearly capped which i thought was odd as there had been a capped QC and had a queen emerged etc, there shouldnt be a QC...another red flag
3. small numbers of bees on frames and not able to see a queen
4. a worker completely backed in to a cell and an egg in the cell when it exited - red flag and hence question for initial post i.e. are there other reasons a worker completely reverses into a cell

will obviously hope to find a queen when i go back in to look for multiple eggs or brood becoming domed etc to confirm

 

[Erichalfbee]

If they have been queen less for two weeks it seems a bit early for laying workers

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thanks Dani....lets hope so...two weeks to raise and cap a QC (marked the frame it was on) and then two weeks post emerging so a month, but take the point, two weeks of the 4 had a capped QC

it's the worker reversed in which prompted to ask the Q

will keep an eye on them

 

[Erichalfbee]

it's the worker reversed in which prompted to ask the Q

That happens in a normal queenright colony.