Drone Laying Worker Fix

Sunday 11th July

This is a well-recognised procedure showing how to remove a drone laying worker bee from a colony. I don't know if it will actually work or not (because there is nothing remotely predictable about honey bees), but the logic is sound. This process relies on the fact that a laying worker is a house bee which, instead of becoming a forager, has begun to lay eggs in the absence of a queen. This means that she has never learned to navigate back to the colony from outside, unlike the vast majority of all the other bees.

The first step is to spread out a large sheet some distance away from the colony (about 20 yards or so should be sufficient, but if you fancy a good trek, it could be in the furthest corner of the apiary), and then carry the whole colony over to this new site.

Back on the original site I set up a spare empty nuc in exactly the same position as the original, with the entrance wide open and the lid off.

I then shook all the bees off each frame to land on this large sheet. Most of the bees didn't even hit the sheet but just flew straight up and away.

I carefully brushed every single bee off, making sure that not one was left on the frame, then carried it back to the original site, placing it in the new nuc in the same order as it was in the beginning.

Before long I'd cleared every single frame and carried them back to the original site, one at a time. There were not many bees still here by now, just a small handful left on the sheet.

They had all returned to the original site immediately and were all busy sending out a signal pheromone to guide the others here. This shows the reason to place the sheet a good distance away, and preferably upwind of the original site. If the laying worker manages to find her way back here then this will all be done for nothing!

Of course the nuc is still now in a terminal condition, without any eggs or a queen - I need them to try to raise a queen, yet again! I chose to remove a frame from Bea's colony - it's a good strong one and can quickly replace one frame of brood by itself.

I didn't want to disturb the brood too much so I just worked my way in until I found a suitable frame for removal.

This is the one I chose - on this side it has capped brood, just about to hatch out any minute now (the cells in the centre have actually already hatched, all the others should be out by the end of the day). These young bees will strengthen the aging population in the nuc colony and replace the few house bees we had to leave on the sheet.

The other side of the frame has some sealed brood but also loads of freshly-laid eggs. The nucleus colony can use these young eggs to try to raise a new queen.

I made a space in the centre of the nuc for this frame of brood.

This secure central location is where brood should usually be found, not up against the walls.

This small colony is very vulnerable - the entrance will need to be reduced to the smallest setting before I leave today. With the lid replaced, this colony now has the opportunity to start afresh. I'll check it again in a few days to see if they have managed to build up any viable queen cells and that there are no more signs of laying workers.

I filled up the spaces in Bea's colony. Everything looked very healthy in here, and a surprisingly large quantity of honey in the stores. There hasn't been a single drop of rain here in weeks, with endless heat. (This is typical of the British climate - cold and wet for months on end, then 6 weeks or so of almost unbearable heat!)

Out of curiosity I looked inside Dipsy's new super too. It has only been on a week but already it is well-filled. We need to prepare to 'super up' these colonies again soon and we only have two spare supers left in reserve!

Beatrix needs another super within the week and so does Dipsy. Charlie's colony is a bit further behind so that can wait a bit longer - fortunately!