Sounds like a sensationalist, tabloid headline, along the lines of “Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster” – but in this case it’s probably the truth.
“Read All About It”
You might remember that my apiary (which now consists of zero hives though did peak briefly at two hives last year) was part of the EU Honeybee Surveillance Programme. At my last inspection, I discovered all the bees had died, so I called the bee inspector and he wanted to come and have a look as part of the programme.
The Inside Scoop
The evidence points to Laying Workers killing my Queen. This is what probably happened:
- There was two months from when my weak hive swarmed to when I combined hives
- There was no mated Queen in the hive for these two months and the Workers became Laying Workers
- There was also a spotted drone brood in the hive at this last inspection, a sign there were probably Laying Worker. We also found some Dwarf Drones.
He took a sample of bees but thought disease was unlikely.
Opinion Piece
The inspector’s advice was that when you have the possibility of Laying Workers, chuck the bees in the hedge and the flying (non-laying) ones will find your other colony and boost numbers.
He confirmed I did not need to destroy the hive. The stores are not useful to me as they are tainted with Apiguard and are mostly sugar syrup that they converted. I will use these standard frames in my 14x12s as part of my Varroa Management.
Beekeeping Guides
None of my books mentioned the problems of Laying Workers when combining hives. I have been developing some Online How-To Guides and have updated the Combining Hives Guide, to include a warning to novice beekeepers of the problems of Laying Workers.
If you want to be kept up-to-date with my beekeeping exploits and guides, please subscribe.
Read More
- An Inspector Calls (Visit 3 of 3) – I got some more bees and the bee inspector came for a third and final visit as part of the EU Programme
This is so weird. I had no idea laying workers would kill a queen. Why was your hive queenless for so long? A swarm should have a (old) queen and the old hive should also have a (new) queen.
I hope I never get laying workers but I suspect it’s something that could happen before you know it unless you inspect the brood every week or 2 all year round (which is insane).
Very interesting post. Thanks.
There was a single Queen cell in the hive when they swarmed, but she either never mated or died somehow. Hence, Laying Workers.
Thanks for this very informative and easy to read blog – I’m a complete novice as well and the bees are a constant worry especially now they are all starving. I have just put fondant onto the crown board of my one hive so fingers crossed!
Hi Alison, Let us know how it goes. My friend just lost a hive yesterday due to lack of food in the brood box. The bees had stores in the supers but they were keeping the brood warm at the same time. Hope the fondant works.
Aaargh! The crown board is on top of the super – do you think I should take some of the empty comb out of the super and put the fondant on top of the brood box instead? There were a few bees in the super…. It is all so confusing!
Hi Alison, Keep calm and don’t panic! 🙂 The best advice I can give is that it’s really useful to have an experienced bee buddy you can call on these occasions, and then try to only call them occasionally. Or better yet, a circle of bee buddies. You could do what you are proposing. I’ve written some advice on feeding bees including Winter feeding, click here. Good luck.
fondant should be placed on top of frames
I have had laying workers also . My answer when I see the spotty drone brood with multiple eggs or larva, is to remove the box or boxes take a hundred feet away and shake out every bee from every frame . Then replace the frames with drone brood with new foundation or drawn comb and place back onto original hive bottom board in original spot some of the flying good bees will beat u there. The laying workers and drones will remain in the pile at the dump site. If you have a frame of good brood that you can rob from another hive install it right away. Its the pheremone from the brood that stops the workers ovaries from developing. This bought me enough time to combine the hive with a swarm i captured . I’ll post back to let you know how well it worked.
it worked ! found queen lots of eggs. Paper was almost gone. Both boxes close to full of filled out comb and hive is very strong. I don’t think its the bees that should be thrown in hedge.