mark berninghausen wrote:
> What circumstances in nature would prompt a worker bee to move
> and egg? Do other insects move already layed eggs?
> 

Ants do it all the time. Sometimes I'll disturb a nest of tiny brown 
ants under a bottom board or inner cover, and you'll see them hurrying 
off with eggs in their jaws. I've seen colonies of larger ants in my 
yard moving their nest lock, stock, and barrel from one place to 
another, including eggs. One aspect of this nest-moving behavior I found 
fascinating was that many of the workers were carrying other ants which 
had curled themselves up into a ball; when disturbed, the carrying ant 
dropped it's load and they both scurried off. Not relevant to the 
discussion, but pretty interesting just the same!

I've been following this topic with great interest. I remember last 
winter when Murray posted his message about a hopelessly queenless hive 
(apparently) requeening itself with an egg stolen from another hive and 
I was fascinated by the implication of such behavior. I also found the 
site Predag posted about bell-shaped cells equally fascinating. I 
decided to investigate the matter. It turns out very few people have 
actually ever seen a queen laying an egg in a queen cup. Francois Huber 
was of the opinion that bees do not move eggs.

The prevailing consensus is that bees either do not or cannot move eggs 
without damaging them, but there are people who believe otherwise. I'm 
one of them. I think it's uncommon, even rare, but I see no reason why, 
if bees can remove eggs, which they can, why they can't move them as well.

Probably the best opinion on the matter I got came from Tony Jadczak 
whose opinion I value highly. I had occasion to ask him how eggs get 
into queen cups when he was inspecting my apiary this past spring. His 
answer? "Who cares!" :)

George-
Whitefield, Maine

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---