Signs Of A Drone Laying Queen And How To Fix It: A Complete Guide

The most obvious signs of a drone laying queen include bullet shaped brood cappings that stick out of normal worker cells, a very spotty brood pattern, and a sudden drop in your worker bee population. You will also notice a massive increase in male drone bees inside the hive.

To fix a drone laying queen, you must first find her and remove her from the colony. After removing her, wait 24 hours to let the colony realize they are queenless. Then, introduce a new and properly mated queen using a queen cage. This gives the worker bees time to accept her scent before she is released to start laying healthy worker eggs.

Welcome to Trevro. My name is Peter Uzodimma. I am a beekeeper and an agricultural educator. Today, we are going to dive deep into a very specific beekeeping problem.

Finding out your hive is failing can be scary. But do not worry. I will show you exactly how to identify this issue and save your bees.

What Exactly Is A Drone Laying Queen?

A honey bee colony relies on female worker bees to survive. These female workers forage for nectar, nurse the young, and defend the hive.

The queen bee is the only bee in the hive that can lay fertilized eggs. Fertilized eggs become female worker bees. Unfertilized eggs become male drone bees.

A drone laying queen is a queen bee that has lost her ability to lay fertilized eggs. Because of this, she only lays unfertilized eggs.

Every egg she lays will hatch into a male drone bee. Drones do not forage for food. They do not sting to defend the hive. Their only job is to mate with a virgin queen from another hive.

If a hive only produces drones, the worker bee population will slowly die of old age. Without new workers to replace them, the entire colony will collapse and die within a few weeks.

Why Do Queens Lose Their Ability To Lay Worker Bees?

Understanding why this happens is the first step in being a great beekeeper. There are three main reasons a queen stops laying worker eggs.

1. She Is Simply Too Old

A queen mates only once early in her life during a mating flight. She stores the sperm from multiple drones in a special sac called a spermatheca.

According to research from the University of Florida Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory, a healthy queen stores about 5 to 6 million sperm cells.

She uses a tiny bit of this stored sperm to fertilize each worker egg. As she gets older, usually around two or three years of age, she simply runs out of sperm. When the sperm is gone, she can only lay unfertilized drone eggs.

2. Poor Mating Conditions

Sometimes, a virgin queen goes out for her mating flight during bad weather. If it is too windy or too cold, she might not mate with enough drones.

She will return to the hive and start laying eggs. However, she will run out of sperm very quickly. This can happen in just a few weeks or months.

3. Sickness Or Injury

If a queen gets sick with a virus, it can damage her reproductive organs. Also, if a beekeeper accidentally crushes or drops her during an inspection, she might sustain internal injuries.

These injuries can prevent her muscles from releasing sperm when she lays an egg. The result is a hive full of drones.

My Personal Experience With A Failing Queen

I want to share a story that taught me a lot. On Saturday, May 14, 2022, at exactly 9:30 AM, I was visiting a friend’s apiary just outside Sacramento, California.

The weather was beautiful. It was about 72 degrees with clear skies. We were inspecting a hive that had been very strong during the early spring.

As soon as I pulled out the third frame, I heard a loud, low buzzing sound. Drones are larger and make a much deeper buzzing noise than worker bees. The sound was my first warning.

I looked closely at the comb. Instead of a flat, even layer of brown wax cappings, the frame looked like a bumpy cobblestone street.

The queen was still walking around. She looked perfectly fine on the outside. But her brood pattern told the real truth. We had to remove her that morning to save the hive. We ordered a new queen from a local breeder the very same day.

The Top Signs Of A Drone Laying Queen

You need to know what to look for when you open your hive. Here are the undeniable signs of a drone laying queen and how to fix it later on.

Bullet Shaped Cappings

This is the most visually obvious sign. Worker bee cells are small. Drone bees are much larger and need more space to grow.

Normally, a queen lays drone eggs in special, larger drone cells located at the bottom of the frame. But a drone laying queen lays drone eggs inside the smaller worker cells.

When the worker bees seal the cell to let the baby bee grow, they realize the baby is too big. To make room, they build the wax capping upwards. It looks like a bullet or a dome sticking out of the comb.

A Spotty And Scattered Brood Pattern

A healthy young queen lays eggs in a very tight, solid circle. This is called a solid brood pattern.

A failing queen will lay eggs randomly. She will skip cells. The worker bees might also sense that something is wrong with the eggs and remove them. This leaves empty holes across the frame.

Too Many Male Bees On The Comb

If you open your hive and see a massive number of large bees with huge eyes, you have a problem. Drones have eyes that meet at the top of their heads.

A healthy hive in the summer has about 10 to 15 percent drones. If half of the bees on your frame are drones, your queen is likely failing.

Eggs Are Dead Center At The Bottom

This is a critical detail. You must look inside the empty cells. A queen bee has a long abdomen. She can easily reach the very bottom center of the cell to lay her egg.

Even if she is failing, she still places the egg perfectly in the bottom center. This detail helps you prove she is a failing queen and not a laying worker bee.

Drone Laying Queen Vs. Laying Workers

Many beginner beekeepers confuse these two issues. It is vital to know the difference because the solutions are completely different.

A drone laying queen is still a queen. She still produces queen pheromones. These chemicals tell the hive that a queen is present. Because of this, the worker bees will not try to make a new queen.

Laying workers happen when a hive has been completely queenless for a long time. Without queen pheromones, the ovaries of regular worker bees activate. They start laying eggs.

However, worker bees have short abdomens. They cannot reach the bottom of the cell. They lay eggs on the side walls of the cell. They also lay multiple eggs in one single cell.

If you see multiple eggs stuck to the side walls, you have laying workers. If you see one single egg dead center at the bottom, but bullet cappings everywhere else, you have a drone laying queen.

Here is a simple table to help you remember the differences.

Step-By-Step Guide: How To Fix It

Now that you have identified the problem, we must act quickly. A hive with this issue is losing its worker population every single day.

Here is the exact method to fix a drone laying queen.

Step 1: Find And Remove The Failing Queen

This is the hardest part. The failing queen might have shrunk in size because she is not producing as many eggs. She might look like a regular worker bee at first glance.

Use minimal smoke. Too much smoke makes the bees run, and the queen will hide. Take out the frames gently.

Look for the circle of attendants. Even a failing queen will usually have a circle of worker bees facing her and grooming her.

Once you find her, you must remove her. You can pinch her quickly to dispatch her. It sounds harsh, but it is necessary to save the other 30,000 bees in the colony.

Step 2: Wait For 24 Hours

Do not put a new queen in right away. The hive still smells like the old queen. If you put a new queen in immediately, the worker bees will think she is an invader and kill her.

Wait 24 hours. During this time, the old queen’s pheromones will fade. The worker bees will start to panic. They will realize they are queenless. They will become desperate for a new mother.

Step 3: Introduce The New Mated Queen

Buy a new, properly mated queen from a trusted local supplier. She will come in a small wooden or plastic queen cage.

The cage will have a candy plug at one end. Place this cage between two frames in the middle of the brood nest. Make sure the screen is facing down or sideways so the worker bees can feed her through the wire.

Do not remove the candy plug yourself. Let the worker bees eat through the candy over the next few days.

As they eat the candy, they get used to her unique scent. By the time they release her, they will accept her as their new leader.

Step 4: Do Not Disturb For Five Days

This requires patience. Once the cage is in the hive, close the lid. Do not open the hive for at least five to seven days.

If you open the hive too soon, you will stress the bees. Stressed bees might reject the new queen and kill her. Let them do their work in the dark.

Step 5: Check For A Solid Brood Pattern

After a week, open the hive gently. First, pull out the empty queen cage.

Next, pull out a frame from the center of the brood nest. Look down into the empty cells. You should see tiny white eggs placed dead center at the bottom of the cells.

If you see a nice, tight cluster of new eggs, congratulations. You have successfully saved your hive. The new worker bees will hatch in 21 days and replace the aging population.

Real Case Studies From Everyday Beekeepers

Hearing from real people helps us learn better. I have collected a few stories from beekeepers who faced this exact issue.

Case Study 1: John From Madison, Wisconsin

On July 8, 2023, John noticed his honey production had stopped completely. He opened his hive around 2:00 PM.

He told me, “The noise was incredible. It sounded like a tiny helicopter engine. I pulled a frame and saw nothing but bumpy, protruding cappings. I remembered reading about the signs of a drone laying queen and how to fix it on Trevro.”

John spent an hour searching for the queen. He finally found her hiding on the bottom board. He removed her. He ordered a new Italian queen from a breeder in California. He installed her using the cage method. Three weeks later, his worker population bounced back.

Case Study 2: Sarah From Austin, Texas

Sarah bought a package of bees in April 2021. By June, the hive was struggling.

“I thought I had laying workers at first,” Sarah explained. “But when I looked closely at the eggs, there was only one egg in each cell, right at the bottom. It was just a poorly mated queen.”

Sarah’s queen had likely experienced bad weather during her mating flight in early spring. Sarah followed the 24-hour waiting rule. She introduced a new queen on a Tuesday afternoon. By next Monday, she had a beautiful pattern of worker brood.

How To Prevent A Drone Laying Queen

You cannot always prevent this problem. Nature is unpredictable. However, you can lower your risks by following best practices.

According to the Penn State Extension Beekeeping Program, replacing your queens regularly is the best defense.

Many commercial beekeepers requeen their hives every single year. For backyard beekeepers, requeening every two years is a very smart strategy. An old queen is a massive risk.

Also, buy your queens from reputable breeders who guarantee proper mating conditions. Local queens are often better adapted to your specific climate. They have a higher chance of survival.

Finally, always handle your frames with extreme care. Never drop a frame with the queen on it. Internal injuries are completely avoidable if you move slowly and gently during inspections.

The Importance Of Regular Hive Inspections

You will only catch this problem if you inspect your bees. You should look inside your hives every 10 to 14 days during the active spring and summer seasons.

When you inspect, you do not always need to see the queen. Seeing her is nice, but it is not required. You only need to see eggs.

If you see a solid pattern of worker brood and fresh eggs, close the hive. Your queen is doing great. If you see bullet cappings and a spotty pattern, you know exactly what to do.

Beekeeping requires observation. The bees will tell you what is wrong if you know how to read the comb.

Conclusion

Dealing with a failing queen is a normal part of beekeeping. Every experienced beekeeper has faced it.

Remember the signs of a drone laying queen and how to fix it. Look for bullet shaped cappings. Look for a spotty brood pattern. Check for single eggs at the bottom of the cells to rule out laying workers.

Take immediate action. Find the failing queen and remove her. Wait a full day to let the pheromones clear out. Introduce a strong, healthy mated queen.

By following these simple steps, you will protect your investment and keep your honey bees thriving. Thank you for reading this guide on Trevro. I hope your hives are healthy and full of honey this season.