Laying worker?

[AndyJThompson]

I have a colony that as far as I can see has a laying worker, lots of drone never seen queen. Today on inspection there is a sealed queen cell and an egg in a play cup (not charged) my question is would a colony with a laying worker be able to make a sealed queen cell? I was under the impression that it was not possible.

 

[Hivemaker.]

my question is would a colony with a laying worker be able to make a sealed queen cell? I was under the impression that it was not possible.

Yes they can produce a sealed queen cell, but it will not be any good.

 

[AndyJThompson]

Ok so if it is a laying worker whats my best course of action

 

[VEG]

the problem is it is usually more than 1 laying worker. I take the whole hive about 20 yards away and shake all the bees out onto the long grass. You can put the hive back but you may find yourself in the same situation again. You cant just put a new queen in as the bees "think" they allready have a queen and could kill the introduced one.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You could add frames of open brood including eggs until they make a QC.
Sometimes works but you might have to keep adding.
Then only if the donor colony is strong enough

 

[kevboab]

We have a few beeks up here who use a couple of travelling screens and sit laying worker on top which suppresses the laying workers by allowing brood and queen pheromones through whilst stopping them from fighting and then going on to unite as normal.

Saves the grief involved from shaking etc and works extremely well for them.