How to Combine Laying Worker in Beehives

Honey production in a laying worker hive steadily decreases.

Laying-worker bees lay eggs in the absence of a queen bee. With the queen gone, the worker bees develop ovaries and are capable of laying eggs. The eggs the laying-worker bees lay are not fertilized and develop into drones. Because drone bees rarely gather nectar or pollen, they do not produce honey and, because they are male, they do not lay eggs. When a hive becomes a laying-worker hive, the hive's honey production decreases. It is important for future honey production to take care of the problem. One of these methods is to combine a laying-worker hive with another hive.

Things You'll Need

• Protective beekeeping clothing
• Laying worker hive
• Hive with established queen bee
• Newspaper
• Razor blade
• New queen

Instructions

1. Look at your hive to determine if it is a laying-worker hive. The cells in the honeycomb will have eggs that aren't centered within the cells. Unlike queens who lay only one egg per cell, workers lay several eggs in each cell. The cells for drones are also larger than those for workers. Cells in a laying-worker hive that aren't wider will have a taller cap than cells in a normal hive.

2. Put on your protective clothing such as gloves, long-sleeve shirt and netted hat.

3. Move the laying-worker hive next to the hive with the established queen bee. Remove the lid of the hive with the queen bee.

4. Lay the newspaper on top of the queen bee's hive. Use the razor blade to make several parallel slits in the newspaper. Do not cut all the way to the edges of the paper.

5. Set the laying-worker hive on top of the queen-bee hive with the sliced newspaper in between the two hives. Leave the hives stacked two weeks.

6. Remove the top hive and the newspaper. Put the cover back on the bottom hive. Return the top hive to its original location on your property. Introduce a new queen to the former laying-worker hive.

Tips & Warnings

• You can rear your own or purchase new queen bees from apiary supply stores.

• Usually the worker bees in the queen's hive will protect her, but if you are worried about the laying worker bees attacking the queen when you stack the hives, put a screen rather than newspaper in between the two hives for one week. Then remove the screen and proceed with Step 4.

• Take caution when removing the lid of the hive with the queen bee.

References

• Indiana Honey Farm: Laying workers
• Bush Farms: Laying Workers

Resources

• Oregon State Beekeepers Association: Beekeeping 101