Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: bcooper on August 13, 2012, 03:45:37 pm
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If I have a queen less hive, with a laying worker, could I use these bees to raise some grafted queen cells without removing the laying worker?
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No.
Those eggs are all drones. You have two problems; Queenless, Laying worker. Laying workers are a big problem but cam be fixed a few different ways. Best bet is to go read about laying workers over at Bush Farms (Click here (http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm))
*Just realized i misread that question big time. Please ignore the above*
Is it a regular sized hive? or a nuc? It would be a shame to lose a good sized hive to laying workers.
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It is just a small nuc, I had a graft bar in the hive to allow cleaning prior to grafting. Weather kept me from getting to it until today, only 72 hrs since I installed it. But I noticed several eggs in a couple cell cups. I grafted only 5 cups anyway just to see what would happen. There are nurse bees and with brood honey and pollen on the other 4 frames. what are your thoughts now? Thanks
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i would say yeah they will get to work on em. But im no queen rearing expert. I would think they would take care of any larvae you put in there.
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Well I checked them after about 6 hours and they seem to be doing just what the doctor ordered. Now I wonder if they will try to raise a queen cell from one of the eggs (after it hatches ) that the worker placed there. Which we know won't work