How queen bees are born - royal cells and breeding

Characteristics of a queen bee, appearance and how the larvae develop

How are queen bees born? The mechanism of development of the larvae follows different procedures according to the nourishment received. Queen bees are born from eggs present inside royal cells .

The physical characteristics of a queen bee are very different from those of a worker bee. This is because the development of the body adapts to what will be their function in the hive.

The queen stands out from other bees as she has a much longer abdomen and a larger chest. The sovereign bee can be considered as the mother of all bees , precisely because it is the only fertile specimen in the colony.

The queen, after mating, will take care of laying eggs for the rest of her life. Its highly performing reproductive system will allow it to produce more than 2,000 eggs per day!

The worker bees on the other hand, are not fertile individuals and for this reason their need to have a queen is a top priority. The queen is the one who allows the exchange of bees inside the hive and, consequently, is what allows the swarm to survive.

When is a queen bee born?

The queen bee is born whenever a swarm feels the need for a new ruler. This happens when, for example, the current queen has to be replaced because it is now old.

In these cases, the workers begin to build royal cells and prepare for a new queen. The construction of royal cells also takes place in cases where the family is deprived of its sovereign bee and therefore in the case of orphanization.

The complete development of a larva which then becomes queen is very fast. It takes about 16 to 17 days. The worker bees, on the other hand, require a longer development (about 21 days) and the male bees (drones) even 24 days.

The growth rate of a larva is also influenced by the nourishment it receives. All the larvae present in the royal cells receive royal jelly during the entire development cycle, up to the flicker and throughout the adult phase.

Royal jelly is the prized food that allows queens to have a larger, more performing and above all longer-lived body.

Virgin queen bees: the first days of life

When the queen bee is born, the whole hive is in fervor. This represents a great time for the whole family. In the initial phase, the new virgin queen bee, receives a lot of attention from the swarm and is encouraged to go out to practice her orientation flights.

In the first days of life, queen bees are in fact virgins and, after the mating flight, they will never come out of the hive again.

It is good to specify that the life of a queen bee is very limited. In fact, it will spend its entire existence indoors, inside the hive. After the nuptial flight, a queen's life will be devoted exclusively to egg production. Once she becomes old and therefore useless, she will have to leave the colony.

Fertile queen bees and mating flight

Queen bees become fertile immediately after their nuptial flight. The mating flight occurs only once during the queen's entire life.

The fertile queen bees are able to accumulate enough semen during the flight, to be able to fertilize eggs for years! This is because every single queen mates with hundreds of males. The drones of the neighboring colonies, at the call of the pheromones emitted by the queen, gather at specific assembly points . Later they reach the queen in flight reaching great heights.

The males will mate with the queen one after the other and, immediately after mating, they will lose their lives. The drones that fail to reach the queen in flight are abandoned by the workers who stop feeding them and giving them sustenance.

The queen bee is equipped with special "pockets" called spermatheca, which, after mating, are full. It is at this moment that a queen bee becomes fertile.

The sperm present in her sacs will allow her to produce fertilized eggs from which new females will be generated. From the unfertilized eggs, however, only drones will be born.

The role of the queen within the hive

The role of a queen bee within the hive covers essential and irreplaceable tasks. Every swarm needs a queen without which she would not survive.

Each queen has an average lifespan of 5 years. When the queen is no longer performing and her egg production becomes less and less efficient, the swarm replaces her.

The old queen will then have to leave the hive and a group of workers will follow her to settle elsewhere. This phase is called swarming . The part of the swarm that goes away with the queen will take care of her for the rest of her existence, until the last days of her life.

Bee breeding and online queen bees sale

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