Naturally anarchic hives contain a few dozen laying workers, and seem to function well. But by selective breeding, Oldroyd and his colleagues have got the egg-layers up to about 40% of the workforce. In these hives, breeding workers neglect their chores and the hives become decadent to the point of collapse. "They can barely feed themselves, and they do weird things like trying to raise queens out of male larvae," Oldroyd says.