Laying workers - Ask Extension
Videos say laying workers are the youngest bees and most likely haven’t taken an orientation flight. So if I shake out all the bees 50 feet away the...
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Laying workers #803682
Asked July 29, 2022, 4:40 PM EDT
Videos say laying workers are the youngest bees and most likely haven’t taken an orientation flight. So if I shake out all the bees 50 feet away the only bees that make it back are not the laying workers. So then I can introduce a new queen. What do you think?
Coos County Oregon
Expert Response
Hi Jill,
It is true that younger workers tend to have the largest ovaries in colonies that have been queenless for a while. Older foraging-age workers, however, still retain ovaries. You could try the method you described, but here is what I have done in the past. First, if the colony is small, its often best to shake all the bees out on the grass and allow them to drift to surrounding colonies where they will be in too small proportion to disrupt those colonies. But if the colony is large, you should swap positions with a strong queen right colony. This will result in foragers from the queenright colony to fill the ranks of the queenless colony. Next put a queenright nuc into the queenless colony, which should restore the colony to its queenright status.
Of course, the best approach to a worker laying colony is to replace queens soon after the colony goes queenless, although its understandable with all the rain we are seeing more colonies with laying worker than in previous years.
Andony
It is true that younger workers tend to have the largest ovaries in colonies that have been queenless for a while. Older foraging-age workers, however, still retain ovaries. You could try the method you described, but here is what I have done in the past. First, if the colony is small, its often best to shake all the bees out on the grass and allow them to drift to surrounding colonies where they will be in too small proportion to disrupt those colonies. But if the colony is large, you should swap positions with a strong queen right colony. This will result in foragers from the queenright colony to fill the ranks of the queenless colony. Next put a queenright nuc into the queenless colony, which should restore the colony to its queenright status.
Of course, the best approach to a worker laying colony is to replace queens soon after the colony goes queenless, although its understandable with all the rain we are seeing more colonies with laying worker than in previous years.
Andony
