Eggs improperly positioned on sides or not centered in back of the cell and cells with multiple eggs (two to a dozen or more). Small-bodied drones developing in worker cells.
If worker eggs laid in super, small-bodied drones caught above the excluder.
When hopelessly queenless, i.e., if there is no brood to rear a new virgin queen, worker ovaries develop and some workers haphazardly start laying unfertilized eggs. Normal colonies may have as many as four percent of workers producing (haploid) unfertilized eggs, but few develop into mature drones with worker policing of brood.
Sometimes worker-laid eggs occur outside the normal brood rearing area (such as in a super above a queen excluderqueen excluder:
a metal or plastic device that allows workers to pass through opening slots or wires, but is spaced to keep the queen and drones from passing through.
). These may develop and produce adult drones. Though often small-bodied, these adult drones will not be able to exit the super, unless there is an upper entrance, and their bodies accumulate above the excluder.
Requeening a laying worker colony with a queen cell or a mated queen is very difficult. Advice to dump bees out and reassume hive is not an effective means of ridding a laying worker colony of their laying workers. Like the other bees dumped out, they fly back to their previous hive location.
Improperly mated queen; inferior queen
Betterbee. 2020. Ask a Master Beekeeper – Laying Workers. Betterbee. Accessed 2023. https://www.betterbee.com/ask-a-master-beekeeper/july-2020.asp
McAfee A. 2018. The surprising benefit of laying workers. American Bee Journal 158(10): 1141-1144. https://bluetoad.com/publication/?i=528323&p=69&view=issueViewer and https://bluetoad.com/publication/?m=5417&i=528323&view=articleBrowser&article_id=3195249&ver=html5
“Laying Worker”, YouTube, uploaded by University of Guelph Honey Bee Research Centre, 11 March 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycKdlYzrcOE
Hizsnyai P. 2018. Laying workers. It happens. Fix it. Bee Culture. Accessed 2023. https://www.beeculture.com/laying-workers-happens-fix/
Huang Z. 2016. False queen in a laying worker colony. MSU Bee The Best Blog. Accessed 2023. https://bees.msu.edu/laying-workers/
Ellis JD and Mortensen AN. 2011. Cape honey bee. Featured Creatures. Accessed 2023. https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/cape_honey_bee.htm
