{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreiar7fky66rcuirrjhrijw4omxtoxr5avrvfxx5kxlqidmvzyo57xu",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:7x6r3ixuco7eae5dynd6zh5b/app.bsky.feed.post/3mp7cu2ylai22"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreicokcq5jt6uku75cwiev3pnzbqlmoruxjj5kqxklljltqctqi3xna"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/webp",
    "size": 141370
  },
  "description": "Laying workers, and the distinct but functionally similar rebel workers, are a curse in hopelessly queenless hives. Why and when do they occur, how can you prevent them from appearing, and how to fix things if they do. ",
  "path": "/the-curse-of-laying-workers/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-26T16:00:03.000Z",
  "site": "https://theapiarist.org",
  "tags": [
    "(p)honey",
    "differential",
    "Landy",
    "Api-Bioxal",
    "regular sponsor-only content",
    "Subscribe now"
  ],
  "textContent": "_“What's the greatest inconvenience for experienced beekeepers?”_.\n\nIf I were to ask this question I'd expect a lot of different answers; cheap supermarket (p)honey, the fubar'd differential on the Landy, the daft licensing restrictions on Api-Bioxal, and incessant spousal nagging about propolis on the sofa.\n\nWhat? Me?\n\nHowever, if I asked _enough_ beekeepers I'd wager that some of the most 'popular' responses would be about poor queen mating and laying workers.\n\nThese topics are (tenuously) related.\n\n_'Poor queen mating'_ includes the loss of the queen on her nuptial flights. This inevitably renders the colony queenless, quite possibly terminally {{1}}. Unless the beekeeper is _'on the ball'_ {{2}} the colony will go on to develop laying workers.\n\nPoor queen mating occurs for a multitude of other reasons as well … lousy weather, insufficient drones, low fertility drones (or queens), house martens _etc._\n\nFor this reason it's a rather tricky topic to discuss definitively.\n\nInstead, I'm going to focus on the other inconvenience … laying workers, not least because I've just shaken out _yet another_ colony that developed them after a queen failed to return from a mating flight {{3}}.\n\nℹ️\n\nLaying workers are adult unmated female workers that lay unfertilised eggs. These develop as drones, and are often reared in worker comb, which wrecks it. Colonies with laying workers cannot be requeened, and take time and resources (brood from elsewhere) to fix. And this doesn't always work.\n\nThe title of this post sums up my views of laying workers.\n\nI consider them a curse.\n\nOnce laying workers develop, without intervention, the colony is _always_ doomed.\n\nWith intervention, the colony may _still_ be doomed … but the demise of the colony is a long, drawn out affair that wastes valuable resources taken from other hives.\n\nOn which, more shortly.\n\nIf you want to avoid the AI 'slop' that increasingly contaminates beekeeping websites then please consider supporting __The Apiarist__. Sponsors ensure the continued existence of the site, and receive regular sponsor-only content. ChatGPT (or his more polite cousin, Claude) has never opened a hive or marked a queen, so why trust its judgement when seeking information or entertainment on the science, art, and practice of sustainable beekeeping?\n\nYes please … sign me up as a sponsor\n\n## Laying workers and rebel workers … the same, but very different\n\nWhat are laying workers, why do they occur, and what works (and does not work) in dealing with them?\n\nThe biology of laying workers is fascinating.\n\nWhilst beekeepers have been aware of them for centuries {{4}}, recent research has demonstrated that there are actually _two_ types of laying workers that arise under different conditions.\n\n  1. 'Classic' **laying workers** are _adult female workers_ that activate their ovaries after queen loss. The absence of queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), and pheromone produced from open brood, results in ovary activation, and this happens in predominantly younger adult bees. These laying workers have _better_ developed hypopharyngeal glands (HPG), so resemble nurse bees rather than foragers. These laying workers develop in response to environmental change (the loss of the queen) as _adults_.\n  2. **Rebel workers** are egg-laying workers that arise in response to an absence of QMP during _development_. These conditions occur when a colony swarms, leaving eggs and open brood in a colony that is queenless. QMP levels (usually spread through trophallaxis) drop precipitously, and some worker larvae develop in a more 'queen-like' state. The resulting workers have better developed ovarioles and mandibular glands (_i.e._ queen-like, rather than worker-like), but _underdeveloped_ hypopharyngeal glands. Although rebel workers can also only lay unfertilised eggs, they have a higher reproductive potential (_i.e._ they lay more eggs) than classic laying workers; they have more ovarioles and their ovaries are activated to a greater extent. They also exhibit behavioural differences which I'll discuss later. Rebel workers are considered a _distinct sub-caste_ of honey bees.\n\n\n\nℹ️\n\nI'm going to use the abbreviation LW to indicate laying workers of __both__ types, but 'laying workers' or 'rebel workers' to indicate the __specific__ type where I need to distinguish between them.\n\nAlthough they arise via different mechanisms, in terms of practical beekeeping, their impact on the hive (and how to deal with them) are broadly similar … and I'll get to those in due course.\n\n### This post is for subscribers only\n\nBecome a member to get access to all content\n\nSubscribe now",
  "title": "The curse of laying workers",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-26T18:00:03.743Z"
}