In a message dated 5/6/98 10:41:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
<< What I am wondering about is, that if there were laying workers in a hive,
would queen cells be raised on a test frame?. Would the bees take the
advantage presented to them to raise a queen, or would the presence of
laying workers give them the impression that they already had a queen?. >>
I'm sure the bees know they have no queen. But it requires young bees to
raise a new queen. If they have been queenless for quite a while, there will
be few young bees. Giving them a frame with only eggs may not stimulate queen
cell building. Giving them sealed brood with a few eggs, will give them both
the prerequisite bees and the source eggs, so would improve the odds.
[log in to unmask] Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA
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