Figure 5.27 Raised drone cells scattered among worker cells, as opposed to groups of drone cells at the edge of the comb, indicate that a queen has gone “drone layer” – meaning that she is running out of stored sperm with which to fertilize worker eggs.

      Queenlessness Colonies

      A colony that loses its queen while there are eggs and young larvae present will generally (weather and predators permitting) successfully requeen itself.

       Field signs for a queenless colony:

      The lack of eggs and young larvae is not a conclusive sign of queenlessness, since the colony may have simply ceased broodrearing due to dearth, or may have a new queen in progress (typically referred to as a “virgin” until she starts laying eggs). The other signs in the above list are more conclusive.

      Signs of Being in the Process of Self Requeening

      A colony in the process will have either queen cells of some stage present, or a virgin queen. A virgin is difficult for the untrained eye to spot.

       Practical application: if a colony has recently lost its queen, emergency queen cells should be present. One way to test for queenlessness is to insert a frame of eggs and young larvae from another hive; if the colony is indeed queenless, it will start the construction of emergency cells on that frame by the next day.

       Practical application: A colony in the process of requeening itself is generally calm, not jittery, does not “roar” in response to smoke, and prepares the cells in the center of the broodnest for the new queen to lay in, by keeping them polished and free of food stores. If the bees are storing nectar and pollen in the center combs, suspect queenlessness.

      Signs of Being Hopelessly Queenless

       Practical application: A colony that has been truly queenless for more than five days, and which does not have emergency cells in progress, will be unable to requeen itself, and is termed “hopelessly queenless.”

      The typical signs of a hopelessly queenless colony are:

      How to Tell a Drone‐Layer from a Laying Worker Colony

Since in either case there will be scattered drone cells, many beekeepers have trouble telling the two conditions apart (Figure 5.29).

Figure 5.28 Drone cells are normally built in discrete patches, rather than scattered on the combs as above. If you observe scattered drone cells, look for multiple eggs within the cells, which would indicate that the colony lost its queen, and that some workers have activated their ovaries to become “laying workers.” A laying worker colony is doomed to death unless it is requeened by the beekeeper, which may be difficult.

Figure 5.29 A brood frame with scattered drone cells. In this case, there were only single eggs in the cells, indicating that it was a case in which the queen had gone “drone layer” (unable to fertilize worker eggs). This diagnosis was confirmed by noticing the presence of a queen.

       Practical application: A drone‐laying queen and a colony with laying workers both exhibit scattered drone cells. But only in the case of laying workers are there are multiple eggs scattered in the cells.

      Odd Problems

A virgin queen, due to weather, may be unable to take mating flights. After a few weeks, she may begin to lay eggs. Or a queen may have a problem with her internal plumbing that prevents her from fertilizing her worker eggs. In either case, the queen may lay a solid pattern of drone brood in worker cells (Figure 5.30).

Figure 5.30 A case of a young queen commencing egg laying without having mated (likely due to confinement by weather). Note that she has attracted a retinue of attendants, but that every cell contains a drone larva too large for the worker cell in which the eggs were laid. Note also that the workers have extended the cell walls, and in a few days the cells would be capped with bullet‐shaped drone cappings, rather than slightly‐domed worker cappings.

Figure 5.31 A solid brood pattern, indicating an excellent queen, and a well‐nourished, disease‐free colony.

      “Spotty Brood”

Beekeepers thrill to see a “solid brood pattern” (Figure 5.31).

Sometimes one will observe what beekeepers call “spotty brood” (Figure 5.32). This may or may not be a reflection of the queen. A queen mated in an inbred population, due to lack of diversity in the sex alleles of the drones that she mated with may lay fertilized eggs that develop into “diploid drones,” which are quickly consumed as larvae by the nurses, resulting is a spotty brood pattern. This is seldom the case,

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