I have a couple of colonies that are queenless. I have one hive with spare frame of eggs/larvae. How long can I expect the queenless colonies to remain OK before the workers start laying? If the workers do start laying, will that be stopped if a queen or a frame of eggs is introduced? Thanks
As long as there is capped brood their pheromones will inhibit laying workers but once the brood has all emerged laying workers will start to develop. Putting a queen into a colony with laying workers usually results in her being killed. Putting frames of brood in will eventually reduce the problem but is this a good use of brood. Move the colony away and shake it out and the workers will return to the apiary and disperse among the other colonies. They won't tolerate the laying workers, although some believe they don't return.
If you know a colony is queenless why allow it to develop laying workers. Put in a frame with eggs and very young larvae (called a test frame) and let them create some queen cells. The earlier you can put the frame in the better as you need young bees to develop a good queen.