The prospect of a laying worker hive can really frustrate many beekeepers. I think they can happen to anyone, even experienced beekeepers. We can be fooled by a laying worker. We see eggs and think all is well, when in fact they are unfertilized eggs.
I heard the following remedy discussed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bee Lab members.
1. Do a thorough shake out away from the hive.
2. In the same location the colony was located, start reassembling the hive starting with the bottom board, place a queen excluder on top of the bottom board. On top of the queen excluder, place the brood box and bee free frames. I brushed each frame individually and return them to the brood box one at a time.
3. If the colony consisted of 2 brood boxes, do the same with the second brood box.
4. The bees will fly back, immediately, to the original colony site. The theory is the laying worker will be too large to get past the queen excluder.
5. At this point your options are to insert a frame of eggs from another colony so the laying worker hive can raise their own queen. The eggs should be 1-2 days old in order to raise a properly well fed queen. OR Insert a frame with a queen cell that the laying worker hive can finish raising. This works well during swarm season. OR insert a mated queen in a queen cage for the laying worker colony to accept.
I did the last option, inserting a mated, caged queen. It worked! I have a very happy colony now. They were very testy and aggressive prior to getting this colony straightened out.
Are there any other methods that worked for you?
