Drone Cell Trigger

[Cole lynch]

What makes the Queen lay unfertilised eggs in worker cell. Do the workers enlarge the entrance of the cell of worker foundation after its drawn, and is it this that triggers her to lay a drone?

 

[gmonag]

If she runs out of sperm or just fails she may unintentionally lay unfertilised eggs. The workers then do their best to enlarge the cell and cap it.

 

[Boston Bees]

What makes the Queen lay unfertilised eggs in worker cell.

The simplest and most usual answer might be "Because there isn't enough drone comb in the hive"

Do the workers enlarge the entrance of the cell of worker foundation after its drawn, and is it this that triggers her to lay a drone?

If the queen is forced, due to lack of drone comb, to lay drone eggs in worker cells, I suspect she does that first, and then the workers react by making the cell larger. But it could be the other way round.

As to the deeper question of how the queen knows to lay drones rather than workers at certain times, I can only speculate - that's one for the scientists. Is she given a signal by the workers to start laying drones as well as workers, via the feed they give her? Is it the weather/temperature? I suspect we don't know for sure.

If course, it can also happen if the queen is failing and doesn't have any fertilised eggs.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What makes the Queen lay unfertilised eggs in worker cell. Do the workers enlarge the entrance of the cell of worker foundation after its drawn, and is it this that triggers her to lay a drone?

As far as I can make out, a queen is just a laying machine, she doesn't 'decide' what eggs she wants to lay, if she finds a cell sized for a worker, she will lay a fertilised egg if she is able to if it's sized for a drone, she lays an unfertilised one, the bees will steer her to where they want her to lay. If they want more drones, they will change the cells to drone cells, even if they are given worker foundation

 

[elainemary]

What makes the Queen lay unfertilised eggs in worker cell. Do the workers enlarge the entrance of the cell of worker foundation after its drawn, and is it this that triggers her to lay a drone?

@jenkinsbrynmair is right, the queen doesn’t decide the amount of drone brood the colony does, depending on their resources, the colony state and income, can be as high as 20% in the wild. The queen simply measures the cells with her forelegs and based on this, lays a fertilised or unfertilised egg. It’s completely automatic and no thought involved. A duct from her spermatheca where she stores the sperm, opens automatically, to release sperm for fertilisation of the egg if worker sized cells, or not if drone. This duct is next to her median oviduct where the egg passes, before passing out of her sting chamber into to the cell.

 

[mbc]

I did once inspect a colony headed by an ii queen which had a smattering of mini drones in it born of worker cells.

 

[The Poot]

“.....no thought involved”

That‘s a relief. Just imagine living your life trying to make thousands of decisions per day - “fertilised, or unfertilised......fertilised or unfertilised....fertilised or unfertilised....

 

[Erichalfbee]

“.....no thought involved”

That‘s a relief. Just imagine living your life trying to make thousands of decisions per day -

We do that every day

 

[Ian123]

We do that every day

You’ve got more energy than me