No its not fluff. Research has been done by some bee scientist and I read about it a few weeks ago. I can't remember who or which publication.

Summary is about 1 in 10,000 workers is an egg layer in pretty much any hive, even yours. Bees who find these eggs decide to keep them or eat them based on various pheremon levels. The decision has to do with parantage, how close of a sister the worker is and whether the hive is queenless, queenright or raising new queen already.

Bottom line is about line survival. If the hive goes queenless and they can't raise a new queen, the hive eventually stops policing..esp. Full sisters will keep each others eggs, 2nd choice is half sisters, and finally any eggs are better than none even foreign eggs. These eggs develop into massive amounts of drones for the DCAs mating with queens to perpetuate the line.

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Scot McPherson
McPherson Family Honey Farms
Davenport, Iowa USA

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