will a laying worker stoip?

[ShinySideUp]

I collectred a swarm and either the queen was damaged or she got left behind as I can't see her and it's only a small swarm and while I can't see any eggs there might be a laying worker in there soon. I there is and I unite them with a another hive will the laying worker stop laying or will it be seen by the new colony as a queen and have an ensuing fight?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

will the laying worker stop laying or will it be seen by the new colony as a queen

a worker is a worker, none will suddenly turn into a queen, it's just that the other workers, desperate to have brood will leave them lay, and probably join in - every colony has laying workers, but when queenright the other workers police it and get rid of the eggs.

 

[beeno]

Sometimes it is difficult to find the queen even in a small swarm. She is unmarked, probably a virgin and may blend in very well with the workers. Do a test frame. It takes three weeks without brood for laying workers to develop. Brood pheromones and queen pheromones stops en masse laying workers, but as Jenkins said there will always be some laying workers in a colony, but worker policing breaks down when the colony becomes -Q.

 

[oliver90owner]

I there is and I unite them with a another hive will the laying worker stop laying or will it be seen by the new colony as a queen and have an ensuing fight?

Doubtful, but the workers might kill the queen. Depends on how many lying workers and sizes of united bits. I wouldn’t recommend uniting without previously suppressing any laying workers, which is easily(?) accomplished and tested out.

 

[aj180949]

How could you suppress laying workers? Any ideas welcome.

One trick I did not try but seems promissing is to have a reasonably established colony set close to the queenless one, maybe with a strong swarm inside. Once established, move it to where the queenless one was and shake all the bees from the queenless one 50-100 m away. The good colony will gain all foragers from the queenless colony, laying workers will get the treatment reserved for foreign queens. May work, who knows.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

laying workers will get the treatment reserved for foreign queens

Why? they are no different to any other worker, they will be allowed to enter, but hopefully the queen pheromone in the host hive will supress the urge again.
No point carting them a hundred yards to shake them out, just a few yards will do to disorient them a bit. Definitely no point in moving a host hive onto the shaken out hive position either - in fact I would say very unwise as the returning bees will just see squatters in their hive and go for the attack. If they return to no hive, they get confused and will then just wander around begging their way into any other hive.

 

[CoolWings]

Hi all,

Last year i had a terrible time with two hives that had laying workers and i will share what didn't and did work for me.

Two of my hives last year became queen less, after i split two hives and after many attempts to insert fresh brood as i didn't have a spare queen and eventually i had laying workers and nothing but capped drone cells.

I tried week after week to add fresh eggs, I even added a queen cell i got from a friend but none became successful more than once i tried to shake out all the bees about a few yards away and still the laying worker or workers came back.

The other laying worker hive was so full of capped drone i emptied the hive locked it up

I also caught a small swarm last year and tried to merge that with one of the laying worker hives and that failed

What i did do that worked on my second laying worker hive was take the new spare brood box with some frames of honey and food from the laying worker hive ( i made sure i had no capped drone cells) and put it on a hive that was queen right and leave it for a few days.
when i went back i removed the brood box and did my best not to take any bees from the queen right hive but i did take fresh eggs\larva and as quick as i could i replaced that brood box with the brood box on the laying worker hive my next visit i had a queen cell's, left it for a few weeks and eventually i had a queen right hive.

Hope my post helps

 

[Buzzlodge]

Open brood produces a phermone that normally supresses the development of laying workers.

I have seen reports that the consecutive addition of frames of open brood will eventually result in the hive drawing out queen cells. However if you think about it, its a fools errant as you will use maybe three frames of brood, and waste a lot time, to possibly save a colony of by then very aging bees.

 

[aj180949]

It is late winter here. I have a hive that is queenless (I am 95% sure, could not inspect yet). What can I salvage when the spring comes?
1. hardware, wax, any honey left,
2. an unknown number of old-ish bees.

My plan: shake the bees off as soon as it gets a bit warmer and before SHB and wax moth gets the lot, harvest what is left, get a decent swarm and place it in the hive boxes recovered. Not much but if a colony gets queenless in winter, this IMO is all that can be recovered/saved.

Any better ideas welcome.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It is late winter here. I have a hive that is queenless (I am 95% sure, could not inspect yet). What can I salvage when the spring comes?
1. hardware, wax, any honey left,
2. an unknown number of old-ish bees.

My plan: shake the bees off as soon as it gets a bit warmer and before SHB and wax moth gets the lot, harvest what is left, get a decent swarm and place it in the hive boxes recovered. Not much but if a colony gets queenless in winter, this IMO is all that can be recovered/saved.

Any better ideas welcome.

You've summed it up - if they are queenless come spring, not much else you can do.