laying worker

[mark]

has anyone actually seen a laying worker?  
  would she take on the appearance of a queen, darker thorax and lighter colored abdomen as in the italians.  or do i just have a dwarf queen?

[thegolfpsycho]

I've never seen one.  I could imagine a laying worker might swell some in the abdomen, but that is just a guess.  I went through my colonies the other day, and there is so much size variation between workers, I think it would near impossible to pick out a laying worker.

[mark]

i would agree...in a full size colony but i'm looking at a nuc and this "queen" is the smallest i've ever seen and i've seen enough virgin queens.   have raised them in nucs and observation hives.  was lucky enough to see one just returning from her mating flight into my obs. hive.

[Michael Bush]

>has anyone actually seen a laying worker?

I have.  I have caught them in a two frame medium depth nuc that went laying worker on me.  I watched until I caught one laying.

>would she take on the appearance of a queen

Not at all.

> darker thorax and lighter colored abdomen as in the italians.

No.

> or do i just have a dwarf queen?

If she looks like a queen, she probably is.  The only "distinguishing" thing about the laying worker that would make her stand out from a typical woker is that she was laying.  She was one of the bigger workers,  but she wasn't the only bigger worker.

[mark]

thanks,  that's what i needed to know.  she sure is little though.....bet she'd be perfect for regressing to small cell.    

[Michael Bush]

She may have just started to lay and may fatten up a lot in the next few weeks.