There were five responses to Milt's query about saving a drone laying
hive, each of which quoted most (if not all) of the original query,
which is identified in the Subject: header of each post.  I have
collected the responses and posted them here.  Thanks to all who
responded.

Cheers,
Aaron

This message was originally submitted by [log in to unmask]:
With two frames of mixed open and closed brood added, you've got a fifty

fifty chance of them raising a new queen.


This message was  originally submitted by [log in to unmask]
Most people do not seem to find a hive of laying workers worth saving.  
I have requeened such a hive by leaving a queen in a cage for 3 or 4 
weeks before releasing her.  I was using this hive as a queen bank for a

while.  I ended up with one more queen than I needed and finally 
released her.  The colony accepted her and they cleaned up their act.  
No guarantee on this, however.  A queenright hive separated from the 
laying workers with a screen board for some time would probably work 
also.  If you try either of these I would be interested in hearing your 
results.

Tom Elliott
Chugiak, AK


This message was originally submitted by [log in to unmask]
If there are enough bees in the hive, you can put in a queen cell and
they 
usually take that.  Keep in mind that it will be around 2 weeks before
that 
queen starts laying and another 3 weeks before the brood hatches out.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA
Coming to Apimondia in Australia in 2007? 


This message was originally submitted by [log in to unmask]
Nuc 'em.
Mike 


This message was originally submitted by [log in to unmask]
Put each deep over the inner cover of a strong queen-right hive.  The
laying workers will typically be eliminated in 24 hours.

Waldemar

Now I'll add my response.  By "Nuc 'em.", I'm not sure if Mike is
recommending make a nuc with the bees or if he's recommending to cut
your losses and trash the hive, which is my recommendation.  The more
hives you have, the easier it is to recommending cutting your loss(es)
and save your time and effort for more fruitful endeavors.  I would
shake the bees from the laying worker hive in an open yard and
distribute the equipment among productive colonies, letting the shaken
bees figure out what they will do.  Of course, this advice is tempered
with the usually disclaimer of checking for disease, etc.  It is rare
that a laying worked colony can be saved.  More often one is sacrificing
a queen (if an attempt is made to introduce a new queen), and even if
successful it takes a lot of time and effort.  If time and effort is not
an issue, then go for it.  But better results will be had if the time
and effort is spent working with productive colonies, cutting the loss
of a laying worker hive.  Woulda/Coulda/Shoulda caught the problem
before it got to the laying worker stage when the colony would have been
more amenable to being requeened (this is an observation, not a
chastisement for letting the problem go too long).  For the record, I
have had 2 hives get to laying workers this spring.

Aaron Morris - thinking too many colonies, not enough time!

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