Multiple eggs in cells???

[bberry]

Hi all,
I have a hive that swarmed recently (caught and rehived) leaving behind a small colony. When i inspected after the swarm i found at least 20 queen cells in the hive, which i thought was a little strange. There were a few intact queen cells and full brood frames so i left them alone for two weeks to see if they could pull it together. Well, when i went in yesterday they had cleaned out all the queen frames and were business as usual but when i checked the brood frames every single cell had two or more (some had 4 or 5!) new laid eggs in them??? Que paso?  I have never seen this, anyone know why this is?

[HomeBru]

Sounds like laying workers to me. I'm fighting the same situation right now with one hive by adding a frame of eggs and uncapped brood to the weak hive every week and hoping that they'll rear a queen for themselves.

Michael Bush has a great page discussing your options.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm

Jay

[Irwin]

Some times a new queen will lay like that till she gets the pattern down

[iddee]

From the time frame you are giving, I think Irwin is right. The time fits a new queen. It's too soon for laying workers.

[hardwood]

Are the eggs in the bottom of the cells or stuck on the walls?

Scott

[Kathyp]

i vote new queen.  wait.....

[Robo]

New queens will often double lay in some cells until they mature a little.  I can't say I've ever had one double up in every cell, not to mention 4 or 5 in a cell.   Queen or not, I have my doubts that she will settle down.   I'm with Scott on this one,  are the eggs all standing up in the bottom of the cells, or are some stuck to the cell walls?

[bberry]

there are some standing up in the bottoms like normal and then there are some stuck to the side walls, especially the ones with more than 2

[JP]

Sounds like a new queen to me. Keep an eye out.


...JP

[Michael Bush]

Two or three is pretty normal with a new queen.  Four or five isn't.  I'd keep an eye on things...

[bberry]

Thanks all!