? laying worker (again)

[Cuckmere couple]

thought i had a cast swarm in a nuc....small and no eggs in brace comb theyd made

left alone for 2-3 weeks with drawn foundation and stores

now seeing multiple eggs in cells and no obvious sight of a queen

1- may they just be a queenless colony which now have a laying worker and i destroy?
2- should i leave time (and wait to see if the eggs all become drones?) in case it is a new queen?

help?

 

[enrico]

The latter, it sometimes takes a while for a new queen to get the hang of things.
Wait until at least a few are capped
E

 

[Cuckmere couple]

Thanks Enrico

Will do..,this was my 2018 queen for next season

Meanwhile...could I split my colony from two merged swarms which is in a national with around 6/7 framed of brood and keep one or other in poly nuc if needed?

 

[enrico]

The obvious question would be why did you merge the swarms just to split them again? Once again, personally, I would prefer to have one strong hive if you have other backups rather than two weakish ones. But, the final decision should be yours really unless you are looking for someone to blame if it goes wrong .
E

 

[Cuckmere couple]

Not at all

Would never blame

So, they were two swarms with laying queens...one was weak and they started superseding and that’s when I merged, not knowing what was happening

I’d rather have 4 colonies for next season ideally but as we lost one last year, I think I’ll keep as one

 

[Hebeegeebee]

If a colony is superceding, you'll get a nice fat well-fed new queen in there - and they will do it all by themselves.

For your suspected LW colony, something for next time:- It can be advisable to pop a frame of brood in a broodless colony before they have the chance of developing laying workers. If there is a queen there's no problem as the brood will develop as normal and strengthen the colony. If there's no queen then they will start to make one and you can then decide what to do. Once LW's develop, the colony is next to useless. In East Sussex with good weather, I suspect that any queen would have mated and started to lay (single) eggs by now.

 

[enrico]

If a colony is superceding, you'll get a nice fat well-fed new queen in there - and they will do it all by themselves.

For your suspected LW colony, something for next time:- It can be advisable to pop a frame of brood in a broodless colony before they have the chance of developing laying workers. If there is a queen there's no problem as the brood will develop as normal and strengthen the colony. If there's no queen then they will start to make one and you can then decide what to do. Once LW's develop, the colony is next to useless. In East Sussex with good weather, I suspect that any queen would have mated and started to lay (single) eggs by now.

Really good advice. The frame of brood stops the workers from needing to lay. It won't stop a drone laying queen from laying but they are far easier to get rid of than laying workers.
E

 

[citrus]

Really good advice. The frame of brood stops the workers from needing to lay. It won't stop a drone laying queen from laying but they are far easier to get rid of than laying workers.
E

presses the LIKE button (and saves this in my 'crucial advice' weblinks)

 

[Cuckmere couple]

yes....it was only a very small swarm and i went away for 2 weeks...so all a bit odd but i'll wait and see

part of me is thinking that as a swarm, it should have a queen...can you get queenless swarms?

 

[masterBK]

If it was a cast then the queen would be a virgin. If this queen then got lost/eaten on a mating flight then without any brood and hence brood pheromone to inhibit ovary development then laying workers soon become active.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

understood

it was a swarm that built some brace comb and laid stores and no eggs in that comb over two weeks whilst i was away

i tied that to a frame with wool and have added some frames of stores and some brood from another colony

now i am seeing multiple eggs in some cells, single eggs in others but a fiar few wiht multiple

i have a laying worker earlier in the year in a v small colony and had to destroy it

 

[Beefriendly]

As Enrico says be patient. New queens often start off laying multiple eggs. If you are seeing cells with one egg it sounds more hopeful.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

will keep you posted

 

[Millet]

Really good advice. The frame of brood stops the workers from needing to lay. It won't stop a drone laying queen from laying but they are far easier to get rid of than laying workers.
E

That is good Advice imo and i did exactly the same last week to one hive...i killed the drone Laying Queen and give them half a frame of eggs and brood to keep them occupied... the other half of the frame was given too a laying worker colony in the hope they make Queen cells and stop the laying worker... i will find out tomorrow when i inspect... if all is good the new laying Queens that arrived today will be going into the hives..