# Queen Laying Multiple Eggs Per Cell



## mjda121 (Jun 4, 2017)

As the title says, I have a queen that is laying multiple eggs per cell. This is my first year with bees, and this particular hive is from a swarm I caught about 3 weeks ago, but I'm unsure how to handle this hive now. I've checked this hive weekly and today was the first time I've seen the multiple eggs. Before everything looked fine. I've included a few images. One to show the queen is, indeed, there and one to show the multiple eggs in the cells.

I'd appreciate any help from any of you on how to proceed with this hive.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

This is actually quite common for a new queen. Give her a few weeks and it should all even out. The cells should be capped as worker brood. If you find a lot of drone cappings, then you may have a problem.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

I've never seen a queen lay that many eggs in a cell. I have seen Laying workers lay that many, and in the bottom of cells on partilally drawn comb like that. They can't reach the bottom of fully drawn cells, but they can reach the bottom of those.


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## mjda121 (Jun 4, 2017)

ruthiesbees said:


> This is actually quite common for a new queen. Give her a few weeks and it should all even out. The cells should be capped as worker brood. If you find a lot of drone cappings, then you may have a problem.


I did read that. It just struck me as odd that she'd lay fine for 2 weeks then start this. There is quite a bit of capped brood on 2 frames already. I was wondering if maybe it was possible that she's doing it because she's out of empty comb to lay in.



Brad Bee said:


> I've never seen a queen lay that many eggs in a cell. I have seen Laying workers lay that many, and in the bottom of cells on partilally drawn comb like that. They can't reach the bottom of fully drawn cells, but they can reach the bottom of those.


Yep, my first thought when I saw the eggs, until I actually saw the queen in there.


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

ruthiesbees said:


> This is actually quite common for a new queen. Give her a few weeks and it should all even out. The cells should be capped as worker brood. If you find a lot of drone cappings, then you may have a problem.


What you have is a fecund queen. Its a good thing!


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## tech.35058 (Jul 29, 2013)

I have a nuc with a "March queen", mated the last week of march, I suspect she was not well mated.
Put her & her sisters in nucs, , then larger hives, some of them got away from me as going into swarm mode, but I had planned to make hot weather splits with them any way. 
This one, I pulled the queen to trigger the remaining hive to make queen cells & split. "Ms. March" in her nuc off to the side, after a week or so did the double egg per cell routine. I thought she had disappeared & the hive had gone LW, but I did find the queen that day. Last time I checked ( last week ) there were no excessive drones capped. I thought it was wierd.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

mjda121 said:


> I did read that. It just struck me as odd that she'd lay fine for 2 weeks then start this. There is quite a bit of capped brood on 2 frames already. I was wondering if maybe it was possible that she's doing it because she's out of empty comb to lay in.


If she was laying fine and then just started it, then she either doesn't have room to lay or enough workers to take care of them. I had a fall mated queen start doing this in one of my nucs in late December. She wanted to keep a tight brood nest that didn't go all the way to the bottom of the comb but she just couldn't help herself and was laying double or triple eggs per cell. It all worked out a bit later when it warmed up.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

"she's doing it because she's out of empty comb to lay in."


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## mjda121 (Jun 4, 2017)

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. It makes me feel a little better about that hive. I was afraid maybe I was about to lose that hive. I'll check it again next weekend. Hopefully it'll be better.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Multiple eggs can also happen when there are not enough bees to keep up with her pace even when there is drawn comb. You might try adding bees if there are any available. Feeding may switch some over to brood work, though small hive is at robbing risk. Always a balance.


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