Hi Thomas and All Thoms - you mention that you have a hive with laying workers that has resisted requeening. I am of the belief that being alarmist about bee problems is not a good thing, but seeing as there is a slight chance the cape honey bee has been introduced to the states via a shipping problem, it is wise to be on the lookout for cape laying worker syndrome. Unlike other laying workers, a cape honey bee hive can and normally does have laying workers present at all times of year, when the queen is present especially. Hence removal of the queen usually results in increased laying worker activity. If however a queen of a race not used to dealing with this type of behaviour (ie not capensis) is replaced, the laying workers will kill her. A cape queen will be accepted. The cape laying worker trait is also theoretically imortal as it does not require a mating event to pass on - laying workers can produce up to 300 eggs a day collectivelyy. Some of these workers will hatch and fly onwards - they are carbon copy (well their chromosomes have swopped around a bit, but the total of genes is still the same - so they are not clones, but are pretty close) of their mother/sister or whatever she is. Hence there is no genetic dilution of the trait. Cape bees are purported to be active drifters - employing a system of enhanced drifting to go from one hive to another, infecting all hives. Hence throwing the workers to the air will result in the laying workers probably localising on your other hives - I have watched this in my home apiary when destroying laying worker hives - advice suggested on the list was that removing all combs and dumping the workers on the ground a way away would result in only the non-laying workers flying back. Well, the three times I did this there were no bees left on the ground, and the bees that flew back to the hive were slightly fewer in number - but a lot flew back to the hives next to it. So my adivce for the bees would be - 1 tsp sulphur late at night - light it and place it in the entrance and then seal the hive entrance. The S02 will kill the bees and hardly contaminate the frames. Just a thought. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc)