On Sat, 27 May 1995, David F. Verville wrote:
 
> Several weeks ago, I started to make a new queen by putting a couple
> of frames with eggs into a nuc box.
> Two weeks ago I saw what I thought was the queen but she hadn't started
> to lay yet. All of the brood had emerged.
> Today at hign noon, with no smoke, I openned it again,  (4X)
> I did not see the queen but I did see eggs and some other STRANGE things!
> First I should say that the bees were very content! (Red pollen again!)
>
> 1 There were three queen cells with two and three eggs inside.
> 2 There were some cells with two or three eggs inside.
> 3 There were cells with eggs attached to the very bottom but at the sides.
>   Some eggs where not at the bottom but half way up an the sides.
> 4 There were many many cells where the egg was perfectly
>   centered as they should be.
> 5 There where eggs outside the pollen/honey band.
>
> I am assuming that there is a mated queen, she just has not got her act
> together or shall I assume a laying worker.
> I guess I will really know a week from now as the cells get capped.
> Any one ever see this before?
> Dave Verville
>
> att!mvtowers!mvdfv
>
 
You have laying workers for sure.  Eggs laid on the walls of the cells
are laid only by laying workers.  Laying workers most of the time also
lay many eggs in the same cell (sometimes more than 10!).  Queens in
small mating nucs will sometimes lay again in the same cells when they do
not find empty cells.  Laying workers can also be present in queenright
colonies.  So you can have eggs laid by both a normal queen and by laying
workers.  It should be easy to check for the presence of a queen in a
small mating nuc.
 
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