>        I have often seen colonies make queen cells with the eggs from
>laying workers. Could this be the case ?
>
 
Hi Vince
 
I once had a colony which lost their queen, then failed to raise get their
new queen mated and eventualy became a laying worker colony.  I got a new
queen then removed all the laying worker eggs before I introduced her.  I
shook all the bees off the comb at some distance from the hive and returned
only empty drawn comb and foundation to the hive.  The bees remained
aggressive to the queen so I did not remove the cork.  The laying worker
eggs were placed in my freezer at 0 Degrees F. for three days.  These combs
were returned to the bees after three days in the freezer.  They continued
to reject the queen and drew out queen cells around about 20 of these dead
eggs.  They did not hatch so I finaly had to break up the hive and move it
using the queen and some brood to make a nuc.
 
Frank Humphrey
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