Frame Guide › Queen problems
Drone-Laying Queen: what it looks like on the frame
Queen is present, but the brood looks bumpy and raised all over.
Raised bullet cappings filling worker-sized cells across the whole frame, but with single, well-placed eggs. A queen is laying — she's just out of viable sperm and producing only drones. The neat single eggs separate her from scattered laying-worker brood.
Requeen — pinch her and introduce a new queen
A drone-laying queen can't recover. Replace her, ideally with open brood in the hive so they'll accept a new queen or raise their own.
Easy to mistake for
- Laying WorkerA colony that's been loud and 'roary' for weeks. No calm hum.
- Normal Drone CombMay · the bottom edge of a frame from a strong, healthy hive.
- Swarm CellsEarly May · booming population, bees boiling out the front.
Could you spot this with the lid off?
Read the Frame deals you 8 random frames. Say what you see, say what you'd do, and find out why. It's free and runs on your phone.
Drill queen problems → Mixed round (all 32 frames) →More queen problems
- Healthy Brood PatternJune · a strong colony, bees calm and covering the comb.
- Laying WorkerA colony that's been loud and 'roary' for weeks. No calm hum.
- Swarm CellsEarly May · booming population, bees boiling out the front.
- Supersedure CellsNothing dramatic. The pattern has just gotten patchy lately.
- Emergency Queen CellsYou rolled the queen ten days ago. This is the same colony now.
- Can't Find the QueenYou went through every frame twice and never saw the queen.
- New Queen Laying Double EggsThe queen you introduced started laying five days ago.
- Waiting on a Virgin QueenThis colony swarmed 16 days ago. No eggs, no larvae anywhere.
- Empty Queen CupsMid-April · the colony is building fast. Along the bottom bars you find these.
These frames are drawn to teach the pattern, and real frames vary. From The Alleman Apiary in Middletown, PA.