Multiple eggs on one side of one frame, otherwise only one in each cell

[beekake]

Strange situation in a friend's hive today: the colony has about 4 frames of brood...and has been a bit slow to build up. At the outer edge of the brood nest on one side, there were a cluster of cells in the middle of the frame where multiple eggs (sometimes five or so) had been laid. I'd say that there were about 40 cells in which there were multiple eggs, and the rest had only one. All the eggs on that frame, multiple or single, were laid at the bottom of the cells. In the other frames, all the eggs were single and laid at the bottom of the cells. There is no sign that the sealed brood in the hive is drone, and there are no drones milling about.

Has anyone else seen anything like this? My friend is convinced he has laying workers and is on the verge of throwing all the bees out.

 

[Skyhook]

It sounds as if he either has a new queen, or a queen who has just come back into lay, and is getting the hang of it.

Sounds nothing like laying workers, I think your observation that they are on the bottom is key.

If I'm right, she will settle down as she gets into the swing of it.

 

[beekake]

The queen is a 2012 queen who led a caste swarm from one of my hives. I thought that she may have been thrown off the lay by the first inspection a couple of weeks ago and that she is now exploding back into form.

 

[enrico]

Patience........all will be ok in a week or two, some are just a bit slow on the uptake!
E

 

[richardbees]

ditto skyhook comment

....congrats on noting that they were on the bottom of the cell

 

[Ros2710]

i just inspected one of my hives yesterday and had exactly the same - multiple eggs in cells on one side of and outside frame. There are loads of bees in hive and BIAS on 7/8 frames. I thought i,d leave a few days and check again.

 

[galileo]

Yep, spotted something similar last season. A week later, the cells in question each had one big larva in them, some being capped. I figured it was some kind of egg caching behaviour and that later, the extra eggs had been shifted into cleaned up cells as they became ready. Bees will happily move eggs from a worker cell to a queen cell, so why not?

 

[beekeeping4you]

Yep, spotted something similar last season. A week later, the cells in question each had one big larva in them, some being capped. I figured it was some kind of egg caching behaviour and that later, the extra eggs had been shifted into cleaned up cells as they became ready. Bees will happily move eggs from a worker cell to a queen cell, so why not?

Did it look like this?
Sorry, this is the first time I hear that eggs are shifted!
Some of the eggs look strange and I would expect the workers to throw them out until only one good egg is left to be looked after...

 

[beekake]

Yes, the patch where there were multiple eggs did very much look like that. My friend even commented that he thought some of the eggs looked to be of poor quality...some being small and ill-formed.

 

[galileo]

Did it look like this?
Sorry, this is the first time I hear that eggs are shifted!
Some of the eggs look strange and I would expect the workers to throw them out until only one good egg is left to be looked after...

Howdo

No, it wasn't as drastic as that in my observation. The patch of comb in question was close to central in a brood frame. Most of the cells had single eggs placed as you'd expect, with the odd cell of pollen dotted amongst them. Here and there, totalling perhaps about ten cells in all, were cells containing up to half a dozen eggs. I don't have the visual accuity to state with certainty that all of those eggs were "normal" and faced with an unexpected observation, I assumed that they may have been cached by workers for some reason, rather than laid by the prolific queen. I guess it's possible that they may have been duds en route to disposal, but I'd further assume that if a worker encountered a dud egg, said egg would be eaten.

Interesting... I'll be paying close attention this season, to see if there's any sign of similar goings on. The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

 

[beeno]

Hi beekake,
I have the same situation with a 2012 cast queen from my birdbox cut out. I shall see what transpires at the next inspection. Beekeeping4you pic, sorry looks like laying workers to me - had that experience.

 

[enrico]

It's the left over rice from the curry night. Got to keep warm somehow!

 

[oliver90owner]

There has been no mention of laying space mentioned by either poster. There may be a case for investigating a little further along that line?

 

[galileo]

There has been no mention of laying space mentioned by either poster. There may be a case for investigating a little further along that line?

Good point RAB (if I may).

In my case, if memory serves sufficiently, the brood nest was occupying 6 frames with 2 frames of drawn comb, 1 either side, then foundation and food. The colony was on a rapid upward arc (early July), with polished cells ready to be laid up at the edges. However, the frame on which the peculiarity was observed, had little space within the brood oval and those cells which weren't occupied by bias, were half to fully filled with pollen.

It should be noted that whilst the queen was young, she'd been laying for close to a month at the time the egg clusters were noted.

 

[beekake]

In my friend's case, the unusual frame was two in from the eastern end (hive faces south), with 3 frames of empty drawn comb available, plus 4 frames with stores (two at each end).

 

[For want of a better word]

There has been no mention of laying space mentioned by either poster. There may be a case for investigating a little further along that line?

This moment just got back in from inspecting just such a hive.... multiple eggs in one frame and singles elsewhere... packed to the gunnells with BIS and stores.... put another brood box on.... the Lady just needs more room!

​

 

[beekeeping4you]

Beekeeping4you pic, sorry looks like laying workers to me - had that experience.

I would not be surprised if the picture shows laying workers and a queen still laying together...

Here's another picture, not as bad as the first one with no undersized eggs as far as I can see, should be caused by lack of empty cells for a fully mated queen to lay in?

 

[beeno]

I would not be surprised if the picture shows laying workers and a queen still laying together...

Here's another picture, not as bad as the first one with no undersized eggs as far as I can see, should be caused by lack of empty cells for a fully mated queen to lay in?

Hi again,
Theory states that a laying worker hive will kill a newly introduced queen because they think they are Q+? What's the story on your hive?

 

[For want of a better word]

I would not be surprised if the picture shows laying workers and a queen still laying together...

Here's another picture, not as bad as the first one with no undersized eggs as far as I can see, should be caused by lack of empty cells for a fully mated queen to lay in?

Notable that there appears to be at least 3 eggs per cell.....
maybee that Triple Dip AGAIN ( now we can not lay the blame on Big PestCo !)

 

[beekeeping4you]

Hi again,
Theory states that a laying worker hive will kill a newly introduced queen because they think they are Q+? What's the story on your hive?

Hi beeno,
Practice is to shake out all bees 20 mtrs away from the hive in a shady corner of the apiary - let the flying bees return - laying workers are unable to fly and are left behind - return frames to box - add fresh queen in introduction cage plugged with candy after 15 minutes - that's all...

It takes weeks to activate the ovaries of worker bees while the laying capacity of the queen deteriorates more and more, I definitely have seen queens still alive together with active laying workers...

(The pictures I attached to my posts illustrate egg laying problems from two different colonies - both not mine. Our failures this spring were all drone layers...)

Regards
Reiner