Could someone explain the mechanisms by which the intercaste workers replace the EHB queen. I realize that these intercastes confuse the hive with a pheromone like the queen pheromone, do they also lay viable eggs? What percentage of the eggs are worker/drone? Is this also a case where the intercaste lays worker eggs but she (or do you say it) hasn't been fertilized? Are they always accepted as the "new queen" or do they just fight better? What about the intercaste herself, how did she develop? Just asking .. Dave