Laying worker update

[tedandagnes]

Just had a quick check & definately got a laying worker so my plan is as follows & I would be really grateful for any advice or comment as I am really new to this
Thanks

hive 1 - prime swarm, old queen still laying aprox 1 frame of brood (capped & lavae)spread over 2 frames small number of bees, some stores

hive 2 - cast swarm with laying worker, capped drone brood, have pulled loads of comb & stuffed it full of stores & pollen

hive 3 - was main hive that swarms left from, small amount of bees, no sign of queen or brood

So my plan is to unite hive 1 & hive 3 putting the old queenright brood box on top seperated with newspaper.

Move hive 2 shake off all the bees & use the comb for main hive.

What I'm not to clear on is should I place a hive back in hive 3 position to retrive the flying bees or just not bother. Will they join the other hive?

I am worried about leaving hive 3 as i don't want another laying worker situation & have no bees left to go through winter.

If you've got this far thanks for ploughing through
Rachelle

 

[oliver90owner]

Seems to me like you barely have one hive of bees all told, if that.

Are you sure hive 2 is not a DLQ?

Regards, RAB

 

[Peter Cox]

Dlq ??

 

[tedandagnes]

the plan was always to reunite them all back together but we thought we would leave them for a while after they swarmed to see if we could get a newly mated queen but that didn't seem to pan out.

How would i know if i had a DLQ, I assumed it was a laying worker as I hadn't spotted a quuen & there were several eggs layed in every cell on the side near the top.

Thanks

 

[Polyanwood]

How would i know if i had a DLQ, I assumed it was a laying worker as I hadn't spotted a quuen & there were several eggs layed in every cell on the side near the top.

Those are classic signs of having drone laying workers rather than drone laying queen

 

[tedandagnes]

thanks guys steep learning curve me thinks!

 

[Meg]

Capped drone brood only in Hive 2? That would suggest a drone laying queen, however, if the eggs are up the side of the cell then more like laying workers. Any open brood at all?

Either way, doesn't really matter. Get the whole lot together ASAP so that you have a chance of a viable colony for the winter.

Meg