Everything You Need To Know About Laying Workers & How I FIXED IT! / Beekeeping 101

The update you have been waiting for...how my laying worker colony is doing! When I was doing my research it seemed that in order to fix a laying worker colony you had to shake the bees out, move the hive, combine with another. There were lots of steps and it was rather confusing so I thought there had to be a better way. Here is my solution to my laying worker colony. This is the first time I have tried this method so I would like to try it this way a few more times before I say it works 100% of the time and if you end up trying it please let me know if it works in your bee hives :) As always I am happy you are here and thanks for watching!!
join the community on discord - / discord
@beefit_em on Instagram and TikTok
Beekeeping, beekeeping 101, beekeeper, laying worker colony, how to

[@paulh.7598]

What has always worked for me and is very simple, is to do a newspaper combine, meaning put a newspaper on top of the brood chamber of your strongest queen right hive and with a sharp knife, not your hive tool, make several [4-7] one to three inch long slits in the newspaper, then take the laying worker(s) box, that you have shaken all the bees into just one box that contains the drone brood and place the one deep box on top of the newspaper with slits. Put on inner cover and top cover and 3-5 days later, the hives will be combined and no more laying workers. Takes just minutes to do, doesn't waste anytime or resources and fixes problem. This is definitely a topic that has numerous approaches in trying to remedy [laying workers can fly back to hive if dumped out or left elsewhere], but with the newspaper combine over strong queen right hive has always worked for me. Just for clarification make sure there are no ways/openings for bees to get into either of the boxes except through the newspaper, make sure inner cover does not have opening, so bees can not enter or exit top laying workers box except through paper.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you so much for sending me this! Looking back that would have been the better way to fix it then after a couple weeks just take off some frames for a split or 2. 🤷🏼‍♀️ learning experience for sure

[@jamestownsendjrtbees3226]

That's how I have done it in the past and it has worked well for me. 1 piece of newspaper is all you need, I don't even make any cuts and it still works.

[@paulh.7598]

@@jamestownsendjrtbees3226 Making the slits, provides the bees on both sides a few starting points so they can work in parallel with the other bees and expedites the process of immediately integrating the pheromone from the queen right colony

[@peterdetchon]

Paul, a tip on newspaper combines...instead of slitting the newspaper, just pour a little sugar syrup onto it, or even just water. Makes it sooo much easier for the bees to make friends as they remove it!

[@coexmxjohn1]

I had workers laying in one of my hives and I did some research in addition to adding brood frames and a queen. Take the brood frames and shake all the bees on the frames in the front of the hive. When they go back in you have fertile brood frames there. Freeze the old brood frames for one day then introduce them back in. This kills the drone brood and smell. You have some really good ideas here…. Just thought I would share another. Love your videos!! Keep up the good work!!

[@strutt01]

With your queen flying off since she wasn't mated you could almost consider her going on another mating flight. And thanks for your work. Interesting stuff your working on.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

That’s what I was hoping but she never came back. This hive ended up being queenless again when I checked on it a week or 2 later. Ended up just breaking it down into bees and bee bread to use in my nucs

[@markmiller4047]

Emily next time u have a laying worker try this!! use a dubble screen board on top a strong hive put laying worker ontop then add a new queen with push in cage. sounds crazy I know but as soon as u put them on top u can tell the defense rite away hope this helps keep up the good work

[@peterdetchon]

Another great video...your learning curve is educating us all! I like the way you think through these situations. The fact that introducing the 'milk brood' made the laying workers stop laying and even remove their unfertilized eggs was valuable information for me. That you questioned the merits of going to this effort to save the colony is also wise.😉

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you ☺️ trying to think of ways to do things based off of how the bees work. Definitely still lots for me to learn but I love being a scientist in my bee yard. Thanks for being here ♥️

[@jimjim7708]

Congratulations on the win. Thanks for the video.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thanks for the message! ☺️

[@StarveEgo]

I’ve heard you mention barn yard bees before. You should check his video out on how to fix this situation. It works every time. Congratulations on your grant. Well deserved :)

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Hmmm I didn’t see that he had one on it. Thanks I will!

[@graemediesel2936]

I’ve only had one laying worker colony. I gave them a frame with eggs and larvae, and then a week later gave them a queen cell and it worked.

[@tedjackson5272]

Emily for the win! Congrats on the grant. Wish you luck in all your beekeeping adventures.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you ☺️♥️

[@brucesbees]

Great stuff Emily! Congrats on the grant!

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you ☺️ super excited about it for sure!

[@gregwaskom552]

An easy way to fix laying works. All you need is a single screen board. Put a nuc or 10 frame colony on top of the laying worker hive. With a single screen board in-between. They will share the queen pheromone through the screen thus suppressing the laying workers. After 4 or 5 days you can combine or add frame of eggs remove top box and they will make a queen or you can add a queen.

[@dwren4554]

Congrats on following your dream

[@sarashappyhives1828]

It is multiple bees that start laying, not just one. I had my first laying worker colony last month. I shook them out and used the resources in weaker colonies. Congratulations on the grant! 🥳

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you! Realizing after this whole thing that maybe it would have been smarter to use those brood frames as a new split and use the newspaper method to fix the laying workers. Rather than use all of the resources I did 🤷🏼‍♀️ live and learn

[@sarashappyhives1828]

@@beefitbeekeeping I have those after the fact realizations, too! It’s how we live and learn 😉 At the end of the day, the bees know what they’re doing and we’re just along for the ride.

[@sdichampion]

Congrats on the grant! Nice video 👍

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thanks! Thanks for the rec. on where to buy hive bodies. Worked out good 😌

[@sdichampion]

@@beefitbeekeeping Glad to hear that. Sorry I didn't get back regarding nucs. Had a shit show of a week. And ended up not doing any splits. Bad year for my queens. Nit sure why either 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@benjaminmeadows1380]

Hey lady Benny from Florida checking my hives tomorrow hopefully new qween and more comb

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Best of luck to ya! ☺️ happy to have ya!

[@benjaminmeadows1380]

@@beefitbeekeeping 👌 my inspection ok

[@KajunHomestead]

Great video I think we’ve all had a queen fly away and congratulations on the grant good luck

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Gotta love it! Thank you ☺️

[@jamescraig8601]

Your robbing a lot of milk brood that could make multiple splits. I mix the laying worker colony,a frame here and a frame there in queen right colonies. I do away with the laying worker colony except for capped and open brood. I shake all the bees into an empty box. Smoke them good.any fliers are potentially a laying worker. The non flyers are nurse bees and want to make a queen. Let the foragers go home to a five frame nuc. They'll all be dead in two weeks anyway. You could end up with five colonies trying to save one. My opinion. But. I love watching your vids.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Funny you said this bc after all of this I realized yeah the amount of resources it takes to save a laying worker colony is really not worth it. But figured I’d share my method of how I tackled it. Thank you for your thoughts they are appreciated ☺️♥️

[@peterdetchon]

😀Congratulations on the award, you've worked for it for sure! BUT a note of caution, more bees= more work (and more fun), and bees can take over your life (like they did mine!).

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thanks! And yes indeed more work 🤣 but I have ALOT of plans with my bees. I want to start getting into selecting my colonies that show mite resistance and start Queen rearing. So I plan to continue to expand ☺️

[@thehiveandthehoneybee9547]

09:36 girl look at all those smushed bee bodies on that box! slooooow down save a bee like your stuff though!!!! subbin

[@GaryManess]

I only seen about 4 or 5. I don't know any bee keeper that hasn't mashed a few bees. We all learn tricks to not mash bees and one is to off set box and slide it on straight giving bees time to move. away. yes slow helps but a box weight when full you can only be so slow.

[@thehiveandthehoneybee9547]

@@GaryManess nothing wrong with slowin down and saving a bee why do you disagree with that???

[@juliegeorge1201]

Congratulations on your grant!

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you! Was a breath of fresh air for sure!

[@Flcracker0419]

Congratulations

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you! ☺️ super excited about it

[@TexasBeekeeper]

Congratulations on the Grant Emily! I look forward to seeing what you do with it. Thanks for sharing

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thanks for the message! Super excited about it for sure! Exciting things are coming 😁

[@dcsblessedbees]

If you have a newly mated queen be sure to give her a little time to get shooting straight, some times she can start off a little crooked in her aim and numbers. From my observation of of keepers dealing with laying workers on youtube, the easiest is shake them out away from the hive location and add either do a combine or add your frames or queens then. I love your enthusiasm 🙂and energy keep up the great work.Ty for sharing, Blessed Days...

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thanks for this ♥️ and thank you for watching! Happy to have ya here ☺️

[@dcsblessedbees]

@@beefitbeekeeping Have a great day and happy healthy bee 🙂

[@stevenkawano9746]

Sorry about the Queen taking off But Congrats on the grant that's so awesome how that works so U can focus on what U Love and not have to spread urself too thin doing Everything that's the way it should be, if ur Passionate about something that's where ur energy Should be put bc when u start doing too much then it starts to become a Chore and thats the worst when u start looking at what u used to love as a chore😔So YAY indeed! Sorry about the queen but sounds like that's a Very temporary issue and I can't wait to see where this goes and where u and ur Amazingness takes us next! Always here for ur victories and especially during ur struggles my friend bc if Anyone is the Definition of Reslient that would be my Favorite Keeper Emily☺️👑🐝💛Ur the Best Emily best of luck to u in the future and keep these videos coming! Happy Monday indeed!😊#dancingbee #happymonday #beefithoney🍯 #beeawesome #beeamazing #emilyisthebeesknees 💛

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you Steven ☺️ was definitely a breathe of fresh air! Been a difficult season of life that has quickly turned around!

[@stevenkawano9746]

@@beefitbeekeeping Nothing is ever permanent☺️👑🐝💛

[@lindafox4065]

Lesson learned. Thanks

[@beefitbeekeeping]

🥰 thank you!!

[@heavymechanic2]

I had a problematic nuc and added a fat frame of eggs/larvae, tore down any cells that could be from drone brood. I ended up with 5 new queen cells and a nice fat queen. After she laid a few eggs, I marked her and she flew off my finger LOL and returned in 5 min as I saw her mark on top of the frames.. I never really had a laying worker problem but have lost the queen and the hive was mean.. I learned to graft, read about the cell punch but seemed like more work. Attach a queen cup strip to a top bar, add 2-3 cups and graft milk larvae into cups, add strip to queenless hive and the bees will start to make their queen in a few hours, repeat if rejected larvae.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you for the message! ☺️ I was debating trying that but was nervous trying to remove the larva from the cell properly and putting it in its cup without drowning it or killing it. I will be exploring Queen making soon so I will give this method a try ☺️ ♥️

[@heavymechanic2]

@@beefitbeekeeping It just takes a little practice, if you fail just try again. I filled 13 NUC boxes the past spring for my expansion, I was able to put the money into boxes and not spending it on bees. Keep up the good video content.

[@billc3405]

Two frames of brood is enough to start a new colony with a queen cell. I still think you had to do magic but it was a good learning experience for you

[@beefitbeekeeping]

🤷🏼‍♀️ what can I say. Definitely a learning experience realizing how many resources are required to fix it 😳

[@robinfrazier5940]

Actually I agree with you ladybug about opening up the hive I think that people open their have up too much

[@beefitbeekeeping]

For sure! Even I’ve been guilty of it. The best schedule for me is every 3-4 weeks as long as you are familiar with how quickly they build and if you are in a flow. Sometimes just pop the lid see if they’ve filled the top frames. Okay time for a new box. I will be using mike palmers method of just tipping the bottom box up from the bottom board to look for swarm cells. No swarm cells perfect, next ☺️

[@carolannjacques268]

🎉

[@GaryManess]

congratulations on the grant

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you ☺️

[@robinfrazier5940]

Well I just need to know if that is your husband behind the camera or what kind of work does he do does he do any bee work at all

[@CastleHives]

Just went through this. It happens. Great info. I did the old shake it out a distance away and moved another colony to that spot. My fault though why it happened . . CONGRATS ON THE GRANT ! !

[@beefitbeekeeping]

It happens to the best of us! A lesson learned. Thank you ♥️☺️

[@CMPearrow]

Your pretty smart

[@sonofthunder.]

fred dunn you tube ...talks about qmp noodle *(temp queen)place holder,...laying worker think theres a queen ,laying workers stop laying,in the presence of QMP pheremone

[@arc6232]

👍on your grant

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thanks ☺️

[@JustBees]

Your video is 100% incorrect. I have intentionally set up a dual hive with laying workers on bottom, a queen excluder, and a mated laying queen on top. After a month, both levels are laying and have brood. The reason your thinking is wrong is that bees value drone brood more than even the queen. The drone brood pheromones are so strong, it dictates what foragers will forage. A comb of open drone send almost every forager for pollen. A comb of capped drone sends them foraging for almost exclusively nectar. And the entrance nearest to drone comb is preferred by bees. The laying worker colony cannot be resolved by worker brood or queens. And any queen raised will be killed by a laying worker. If she comes back mated, she will be chased out. After my drones hatch, I expect the shift will change from focusing on raising worker brood. The colony wants to raise drones and will continue to do so. The foragers are not loyal to a queen. They will accept any queen. The house bees are the issue. This is why moving the colony and putting empty box for foragers returning works if you add a new queen. They will accept anything laying that you give them. I will be uploading videos of this colony soon to my channel. This "experience" hive has helped me better understand the purpose and benefits of a laying worker colony. You can use them to bank queens. They are extremely protective of drone brood. If it is removed, they calm down. It's not the queen that is ever the issue. I seriously doubt she even lays drone eggs. I think it's a worker. The workers laid a single egg in the larger drone comb. They were too small to fit into worker size comb, so they drop eggs in there. And their body shape changed. The abdomen is slightly wider, but not longer. I should've marked the laying workers I saw laying. If nothing else, to monitor how long they live and are laying. This dual hive really defies everything people commonly know about laying workers. After 2 years of tinkering with them, I can tell you your solution did not work. Your layers simply died.

[@BrokePhilanthropist]

Just put a frame of eggs in there, they will pick one. Not sure on the laying worker changing back that way tho.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

From what I was reading from other beekeepers they say it can take 3 or more weeks before they will turn a normal cell into a Queen but they will always turn an upside down cell into a Queen? Might try this in my other hives to see if they will always make it a Queen

[@BrokePhilanthropist]

@@beefitbeekeeping I find it’s about 2-4 days for them to make a queen cell after I put it in. 20-30 days fully mated. I split all my hives with a egg frame with brood. I’m sure you have seen Barnyardbees 2 frame splits. That’s what I do. I’ll even do a two frame split in a 10 frame box with only 2-3 frames in there till it grows. Hope all works out for ya, I’m sure it will.

[@carolannjacques268]

Maybe she's off to mate

[@beefitbeekeeping]

🤞🏼 hoping so!! Going to just leave them be for a week or 2 and come back to see what’s going on since I know they have that Queen cell in there if she doesn’t come back they will have a new Queen in 12 or so days

[@Hawaiian_Grizzly_Bear]

😂🤣. Fixing a laying worker hive is simple. Take your queenless hive to the position of a string colony you move the strong hive place the laying worker hive there place the string hive on top with a queen excluder and newspaper the workers from the strong hive will search out the laying workers and kill them no matter how many laying workers there are. Then you split the hive and requeen 😂🤣. Why do beekeepers over complicate everything

[@johnlawler3353]

Didn’t you know that the worker bees play Rock Paper Scissors in order to determine which one will be the designated laying worker 😂. You’re right. It’s multiple and becomes a free for all.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 for real tho! I kept watching videos where the beekeepers method was all riding on the fact that there is one laying worker and it just didn’t make sense to me

[@leonBUSSNESMROINA]

WHY SHOULD YOU GET RID OF LAYING WORKERS

[@beefitbeekeeping]

WHY SHOULD YOU NOT?!