Laying worker bee

Laying worker bee honeycomb. See broad pattern and drone brood in worker cells (caps protruding). This honeycomb is taken from the dying family without the queen.

A laying worker bee is a worker bee that lays unfertilized eggs usually in the absence of a queen bee. Only drones develop from the eggs of laying worker bees (with some exceptions, see thelytoky). A beehive cannot survive with only a laying worker bee.

Prevalence

Even in a normal hive, about 1% of workers have ovaries developed enough to lay eggs. However usual number of the laid eggs is very small. Only eight eggs (seven moderately and one fully developed) were found after examining of 10,634 worker bees (strong colony contains about 100,000). Workers eventually lay significant numbers of eggs only in queenless colonies.

Development of a laying worker bee

Laying workers develop in the absence of open brood as produced by a proper queen. Pheromones from the brood prevent the developing of the workers' ovaries. The pheromones that prevent development of laying workers are brood recognition pheromones. In some cases, a failing queen is not superseded, and a laying worker can develop in the presence of a true queen. The process of developing a laying worker usually takes weeks after the loss of the original queen.

Methods for Identifying a laying worker bee

All methods of identifying a laying worker bee involve inspection, in which the beekeeper examines the brood pattern and type to identify if a healthy queen is present, or a potential laying worker. The beekeeper looks for a number of symptoms, including:

• Brood Pattern:Laying workers lay eggs that lack the queen's egg recognition pheromone, meaning that other workers may remove the eggs. This results in a spotty brood pattern, in which empty cells are scattered heavily through capped brood.
• Number of Eggs per Cell: The beekeeper looks at the honeycomb cells to see how many eggs are laid in each one. Queen bees will usually lay only a single egg to a cell, but laying workers will lay multiple eggs per cell. Multiple eggs per cell are not an absolute sign of a laying worker because when a newly mated queen begins laying, she may lay more than one egg per cell.
• Egg Position:Egg position in the cell is a good indicator of a laying worker. A Queen bee's abdomen is noticeably longer than a worker, allowing a queen to lay an egg at the bottom of the cell. A Queen bee will usually lay an egg centered in the cell. Workers cannot reach the bottom of normal depth cells, and will lay eggs on the sides of the cell or off center.
• Drone Brood in Worker Cells: Another good indicator is drone brood in worker sized cells. Drones are raised in larger cells than workers. Drone cells are recognizable by their larger size, and when capped Drone cells are capped with blunt pointed cappings. Drones in worker cells are a sure sign of a failing queen or laying worker.