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  • How long before workers start laying?

  • Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
 #3363  by cambsbeekeep
 04 Jun 2019, 17:47
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
 #3365  by Jim Norfolk
 04 Jun 2019, 18:22
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.
 #3366  by AdamD
 04 Jun 2019, 18:25
It often does not take many days after all brood has emerged for a colony to develop laying workers, so a frame of brood should stop it. The colony will attempt to raise queens from the introduced frame - there's no harm in allowing them to do so and destroying the queencells before the queens themselves emerge - or leaving just one to produce a queen.

Once laying workers develop, the colony is pretty well doomed and you cannot turn the clock back by introducing brood - or a queen as she will be killed.

Are you certain that the colonies are queenless?
 #3367  by NigelP
 04 Jun 2019, 19:43
AdamD wrote:
04 Jun 2019, 18:25
you cannot turn the clock back by introducing brood - or a queen as she will be killed.
Putting pedantic cap on...yes you can turn the clock back...Keep adding frames of brood every few weeks...the original laying workers will eventually die off...and you eventually have non laying workers ready to be re-queened
But why anyone would want to faff around and waste valuable time and brood to do this is beyond me ...it's a pointless exercise.
 #3368  by Chrisbarlow
 04 Jun 2019, 20:37
I read somewhere this year of a chap running a virgin queen in through the entrance that stopped laying workers. For the life of me though I can't remember where I read it.