> of a queen for some time. I suppose it's possible that some workers > lay eggs in most colonies but we just don't notice it because the queen > is much more prolific. I'd be interested to hear other people's > comments or experience. Although a very low percentage of eggs in a colony are laid by workers, I think that this event is actually quite common. Francis Rateniks of UC Berkeley and Meredith Humphreys (grad. student) here at Davis are studying the "hive policing" aspects of this event. Do workers preferentially remove worker-laid eggs than queen-laid eggs? Do workers in a hive subfamily preferentially remove worker-laid eggs from another subfamily? Is this done by scent? Paul -- Paul C. Cheng ([log in to unmask]) (no e-mail address as of yet) Bee Biology, U.C. Davis Northwestern University Medical School Lab phone no.: (916) 752-0333 Class of 2000