Hello Jesse & All,

>I openned up the hive to inspect it and remove the now empty queen cage and
discovered that I had multiple eggs in some of the cells.

Check again in a week. Caged queens sometimes take a few days of laying to
settle down.

Also:
Many times bees to make up packages come from queenless hives and perhaps a
laying worker was present in your package bees.

Queens come from queen nucs for packages and the bees are shook from donor
colonies at yards maintained for the purpose. A beekeeper in Florida used to
fill his packages with bees brought into his honey house with supers (orange
flow)and trapped on a huge screen..

>I have read that this only happens with laying workers, but I am fairly
certain that I saw the queen.  I got a really good look at her.

Queens certainly can deposit more than one egg in a cell but as a general
rule if you see multiple eggs a laying worker is responsible.

 >If she is in fact a laying worker, then there is really no point in
replacing her, I should just try to get another package I think.

 A laying worker is a worker bee which lays eggs. Usually happens after a
hive has been queenless for quite awhile. They look like a worker and not
like a queen.

If your *queen* continues to lay multiple eggs in cells I imagine your
package supplier will ship you another queen and not a complete package. If
your package contained laying workers shook in by accident then perhaps a
complete package will need to be sent to solve the problem. If in fact a
laying worker was present in your first package you need to shake those bees
out away from the hive before installing your second package.
If your supplier only sends bees then you will need to recage your queen and
reintroduce her.
Check in a few days and I bet the queen you saw will be laying one egg per
cell.
Ask the list for help again if you do not understand the above.
Bob

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