Egg Laying
Lexikon
The laying of eggs by the queen. She first inspects the cleaned cell, then lowers her abdomen into it and fixes the egg to the bottom of the cell, where it stands upright.
The laying of eggs by the queen. She first inspects the cleaned cell, then lowers her abdomen into it and fixes the egg to the bottom of the cell, where it stands upright. Because of this shape, beekeepers refer to freshly laid eggs as 'Stifte', eggs in the cells.
Finding fresh eggs is the best proof that a queen is present and in good order. The egg stands upright on the first day, tilts to about 45 degrees on the second day, and lies almost flat on the bottom of the cell on the third day, before the larva hatches. Anyone familiar with this can read from the brood pattern how recently the queen last laid.
Several eggs in a single cell and eggs on the cell wall instead of the bottom, however, are considered warning signs: in that case it is probably laying workers producing drone brood, and the colony lacks a mated queen.