Vagner
   I'm not sure of the purpose of your interest in laying workers, but I'd
   like to change the previous explanation so some people don't get off on
   the wrong foot.  There are quite a few interesting aspects to laying
   workers, that you would find in a bee reference book like the Hive and
   the Honey Bee (p 341 - 345 in the '92 edition).
 
   Although researchers have reported worker honey bees laying eggs in
   about one half of normal colonies, especially when a poor queen is
   present, or during the swarming season, the condition most beekeepers
   recognize as "laying workers" occurs when the queen bee has been lost,
   and there are no larvae young enough for the bees to rear a new queen
   (perhaps a queen was reared, but was lost on its mating flight).
 
   The primary symptom is multiple eggs layed incorrectly in cells, such as
   on the side walls. These eggs are not fertilized (haploid), will develop
   into drones if the bees tend them,  and the colony cannot rear a queen
   from unfertilized  eggs. So it's a dying colony casting its genes into
   the wind.
 
   Multiple eggs distinguishes laying workers from a queen which has run
   out of semen and is producing drone brood only, sometimes in worker
   cells (may be called a "drone laying queen").
 
 
   The beekeeper's treatment of the two conditions is  different in one
   main way: the drone laying queen should be found and removed before
   anything is done, but the laying workers are not removed. Generally
   either of these 2 types of colonies is weak and made up of old bees. If
   there seems to be bees worth keeping, they can be used to boost a weaker
   colony. If that isn't an option,  a new queen might be accepted if
   introduced in the usual candy plugged cage. A frame of worker brood from
   another colony apparently helps a lot.
 
   The conditions under which laying workers become obvious? Absence of the
   chemicals from  a queen or brood, which inhibit development of the
   ability of worker bees to lay eggs (ovarioles).
 
   If you wanted more specific information, ask again
 
 
   Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist
   B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
   1201 103 Ave
   Dawson Creek B.C.
        V1G 4J2  CANADA          Tel (604) 784-2225     fax (604) 784-2299
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