Question: I have discovered that one of my hives has a laying worker and she has 1, 2, or 3 eggs in every possible space in the hive. My question is if I install a new queen will she be able to overcome the laying worker and put an end to this business or should I try something else.
Answer: From a practical standpoint, trying to save a laying worker colony is nearly useless. The colony can and probably does have multiple laying workers. If it persists long enough, something called a false queen may develop. Laying workers may take foraging flights and then lay a few eggs. Don’t try the shaking procedure that is in many the old books. It doesn’t work. Regardless, the results are the same – the colony is going to die. The bees are few and old, the nectar season has pretty much passed and the risk of having a $20 replacement queen killed is too great. If you do decide to try to requeen this colony, your chances will be much improved if you put some brood, both capped and open, along with a few nurse bees. Leave the new queen in the colony longer – maybe a week or so before releasing. The weakest, but easiest scenario, is to just put the new queen in the colony and release her as you normally would. The best procedure is combining the laying worker colony with a stronger, healthy colony. Maybe a week or two later, make a split from that colony that contains bees of varying ages, some brood, and some food stores. Such a split – even though it is about the size of the laying worker colony – will have a better chance of survival.
Using queen cells rather than emerged queens may be a better procedure. See additional resources.
Additional Resource: http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?SEQ_NO_115=186563
