----------
... just because they are in queen cells does
>not mean that they are not drone eggs.
>
>blane
>


This seems to be correct.  I raise queens in central California, and
frequently see drone brood above the excluder in laying worker and
occasional failing hives.  Laying workers will lay eggs in queen cups and
will produce elongate misshapen sealed queen cells.  I suspect the
additional day or two of feeding required by drone larvae results in the
over-extended cells.

The over-long queen cells resemble the ones that bees continue to build when
the larvae fall away from the royal jelly in the top of the cell and lodge
at the mouth. Sometimes they are two inches long and 5/16 inches in
diameter.

Kevin Roberts