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Senior Member
Laying worker genes
This is a rant rather than a question! This year I inherited a colony which was a bit ratty so have used it to make nucs from and put queencells in. All three nucs have failed - the bees seem pre-programmed to develop into laying workers within just a few days of being queenless - even with brood in the hive. In one case an extra frame of brood and a second queencell stopped the laying workers* only to find that the virgin queen disappeared a couple of days after emerging and for the LW to resume. Most frustrating! The bees have now been combined with other colonies and the drone brood allowed to die. I don't want those drones around the apiary! Usually there is "plenty of time" for virgins to emerge and colonies to remain sensible - as my others have been this year!
* I've tried to rescue LW colonies before and said never again. I need to stick to my rules!
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