Do You Have Laying Workers? This Is HOW To Fix Them / Beekeeping 101

[@garyfreeman5999]

I liked your video and I loved hearing you say all the things that so many people say in this situation. This is a difficult area for beginners. I just want to help here. I have kept bees for 50 years. Laying workers can fly. They do fly and they will fly. This is simply a fact. Shaking does except one thing . . . . . . it causes the bees to drift into other hives because they have no place else to go. That is a fact. When they go into these other hives, their laying instincts turn off again because of the pheromones in those other hive. There is also some evidence that some of them may be killed off by the other hives. If you don't want to shake (and I don't shake) then best way to fix this problem is to add a frame of open brood. It has to be OPEN brood. Then, later, (like the next day) add the laying worker hivet to another hive with a sheet of newspaper between or you can then try introducing a queen, but introducing a queen at this juncture is a little risky even with a frame of brood and you could lose your queen. I add a frame of unsealed brood and then I add them to another hive with newspaper, and then I split it up again, a couple of weeks later, giving the split a new queen. Laying workers will not cause other hives to become laying worker hives because of the presence of pheromones in those other hives. It is the presence of unsealed brood that turns off laying workers. That is the most important fact. Laying workers? The answer is unsealed brood.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Yes yes and yes! That is the best way I have found to fix laying workers. It’s when you have other queenless hives in the yard that you really develop a problem. Before you know it, they’re all laying workers 🥲

[@JarsOfHoneyTN]

Your video was an excellent learning opportunity for me. I had one of these last year but didn't completely understand the multiple egg laying and etc. You have helped me for any future laying worker hives I may have in my apiary. Thank you!!!

[@UltFrizz]

The simplest way to deal with layer worker hives. Remove the frames with excessive drone brood and replace them with new frames or any frame with some resources or brood. Then you walk a new queen in with her smeared with honey from the hive. Buy the time they clean the queen up she will be come accepted. Commercial bee keepers have been doing this in Australia for many years with almost 100% success. I have done this myself multiple time's.

[@kathyw6635]

What would you do with the frames with drone brood? Do you give them to a healthy hive? Thanks.

[@apveening]

@@kathyw6635 As I understand it, that is the way to do it (unless there is a problem like SHB larvae).

[@gregwaskom552]

1. Queen pheromones are passed from bee to bee. They don't float. 2 laying workers do fly. 3 putting frames of laying workers in another hive does not cause them to go layer worker It is very easy to fix laying worker hives. Just set them over a queen right hive over a single screen board. Or put the queen right hive on top it doesn't matter. The workers will pass the pheromones threw the screen. After 3 or 4 days you can combine or put a queen in the layer worker hive

[@randyclinganfarms4806]

You are exactly right some miss information on this video

[@meyalshaial5280]

So how about larger hive like 2 box full of bees with honey supper. How can I fix it? Never figured out why the new queen die because they had swarmed earlier. Maybe she never came from mating. I added new brood frame from other hive and still didn’t make queen.

[@UltFrizz]

2: False, they can not fly. Do a shake out and kill every bee that doesn't fly back to the hive and add a new queen and you will no longer have a laying worker hive. This method you must replace the hive box.

[@joshtibbs6377]

There’s a lot of things people try to fix a laying worker(which is a misnomer, there’s many laying workers). The easiest way is to simply switch positions with a strong hive. The field force will fix it in a few days and you can either add eggs and let them raise a queen or install a caged queen. That’s worked for me 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@gregwaskom552]

​@M G that's how you get new queens killed. Laying workers do fly. They were flying before they started laying. And since they are smaller then a queen why couldn't they fly. Queens can and do

[@jamesbarron1202]

At 12:10 wouldn’t QMP work to stop them from laying? When you put that newspaper on top are those bees on top able to get outside and forage? I don’t see how unless you have a vented top.

[@jaredgodwin5956]

Video Idea: How to encourage your bees to build out your honey super. Great video by the way, as always!

[@fredshoney6458]

There are often eggs on the sides of the cells, rather than on the bottom, since the laying worker's abdomen are shorter and don't reach to the bottom. This is also a way to differentiate between a drone laying queen and laying worker's.

[@stevenkawano9746]

Hey Emily, Sorry today wasn't Great but thats what I love about this channel; a problem occurs and instead of dwelling on it or throwing in the towel, there is Always a backup plan👏🧊👏Also love how u and the bees are a team, u clean out the frame and give it back to them and they decide what they're gonna do with it, best team ever👏☺️👏Interesting about that smokeless hive spray too how did it turn out? Did u ever find out exactly what it's made up of? Well Happy Monday my Favorite Keeper, Hope ur doing well and I will see U in the next one☺️🐝👏 #emilyisthebeesknees #beefitbeekeeping #beefitapiary #beefitbeeyard #beefithoney #beefit #beekind

[@pirateprospecting707]

What a mess!! Great video gal✅️😁👍👍

[@subsy83]

No need to fix the comb or freeze if you're putting it back into a strong colony. They will clean and fix all cells and contain any small hive beatles/larva. I also rarely shake out my laying workers now, I want to make sure those bees are put to good use, I just put them on a very strong colony and they retard any laying workers they won't allow it to happen. Just my two cents!

[@abdol-gz1vb]

❤

[@maliktamimawan]

Superb.

[@brianbennett4374]

Do a follow-up on that hive please 😊

[@christopherroop4937]

🐝👍

[@princenephron7546]

I'm sorry to say it, but this is a terrible method of fixing a laying worker. YES, laying workers CAN fly back home. A laying worker situation arises around 3-4 weeks after the last worker brood hatches out. That means the youngest bees are 3-4 weeks old and they absolutely have left the hive at least once to go on cleansing flights. Instead, swap ALL the laying worker drone frames out and give them other colonies. Take a frame of worker brood - you only need one with a handful of eggs/larvae - from a queen-right colony and give it to the LW colony. They will begin making queen cells within 48 hours. Once they have some, you can either let them continue making a new queen OR introduce a new mated queen in a cage, keeping her caged for 2 days, then releasing her. Shaking bees out on the ground accomplishes nothing at all and has a crappy chance of actually fixing the situation. Doing the method I mentioned has a 99% success rate. Also, you don't use a screened bottom board in the other method you mentioned. That will just end up with the bees fighting. Pheromone doesn't "float up top"... It is exchanged through trophallaxis, i.e. bees feeding each other. It has to make bee-to-bee contact for it to spread. That's why splits use a -double- screen board so that bees can't exchange that queen pheromone, thereby making on box think it is queenless, but providing heat/ventilation through the screen.

[@1080760]

Just wait, those SHB are going to get way worse with those hives being in so much shade.

[@subsy83]

If the colony is strong, the hive beatles can't take hold. But if they are laying worker or weak hives they will definitely take over quickly. They are a secondary pest....

[@1080760]

They will take over all those splits quick

[@Draintheswamp2024]

did you notice it looks like every worker is trying to lay an egg.

[@GregChu-uv7kh]

No. They don’t moron

[@Outdoor_Matt]

Are you sure that was the queen in the beginning of the video. looked like a drone. the wings to body ratio did not match a queen.

[@saliglmm2579]

Sam aleykoum

[@nanettemclaughlin334]

Please stop saying “ummm” all the time.

[@peteGbee]

just curious how are you planning to manage chemically addicted pollination bees chemical free. you requeening them or anything? also wouldn't want their drones mating with queens you are producing when trying to make treatment free lines. this is constant issue for me in northeast producing treatment free lines with massive amounts of package queens around. But woukd never want them in my yards. treatment free needs good genetics to be succesfull in my opinion.. good luck!!