Queen bees: mating and egg laying

Did you know that a queen bee can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day? Here is some interesting information

Queen bees are essential elements of any hive. The structure of any colony has a well-defined social organization. Each hive contains 3 elements: a single queen bee, the worker bees and the drones.

The worker bees are the largest part of a swarm and are also the ones who perform the main tasks of ensuring the survival of the colony. Drones on the other hand (male bees) have only a marginal role. The queen bee , on the other hand, is the only fertile female in the whole hive.

Queens are the only specimens capable of reproducing. Their only job is to lay large numbers of eggs per day throughout their lifespan. Each queen bee can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day!

Bees live in very large groups (about 60,000 members), for this reason they give considerable importance to reproduction and ensure that their queen bee is always healthy and in full strength.

The worker bees pay great attention to their sovereign, they provide her with food, keep her warm and ensure that the hive is always clean to avoid disease.

But why is the queen bee the only female capable of reproducing? What would happen if a swarm ran out of queen bee?

Let's find out more about the hive's sovereign bees, the mating phase and some curiosities about spawning.

Mating phase and nuptial flight

The queen bees are the only ones able to mate with the drones as, unlike the other females of the colony, they have a well-developed reproductive system (thanks to feeding with royal jelly). The queen bee is born from a royal cell and shortly after the flicker, the specimen reaches sexual maturity for mating.

The phase of mating of the queen bees takes place during the nuptial flight . After the fertilization flight the virgin queen bees become fertile. The nuptial flight occurs only once during the life of a sovereign bee.

Queen bees mate in flight with large numbers of drones from other colonies as well. Through the pheromones the queens attract the males located in the nearby swarms in particular meeting points.

Mating occurs only once during the life of the queens. Even for drones, mating is only possible once because after copulation the male bees die.

After the nuptial flight, the fertile queen bees have stored enough seed inside their sacs (spermatheca) to produce fertilized eggs for the rest of their life (about 5 years). 

Being the only ones able to reproduce, queen bees play a key role within the colony as they ensure the constant turnover of bees. If a swarm were left without a queen bee, it would have no chance of survival because after a short time all the members of the family would begin to die, putting an end to the lineage.

Fertilizing queen bee: how long does it take to spawn?

Each fertile queen bee begins to lay eggs after about 2 or 5 days from the moment of mating. The queen bees, through the sting, lay their eggs inside the hexagonal cells built by the worker bees.

Spawning is an incessant and continuous work done by the queen until the end of her days. Bees are able to determine the sex of the larvae in advance. Female bees will be born from fertilized eggs while drones will be born from unfertilized eggs.

Behavior of the queen during spawning

Egg laying is a process observed for a long time by scholars but also by beekeepers who constantly monitor the progress of reproduction and the state of the brood . After various studies it has emerged that the most efficient queen bees are those who lay eggs on a regular basis without leaving empty cells and without inserting more than one egg in the same cell.

A study by the University of Freiburg also highlighted the fact that each queen has a characteristic behavior during egg laying. When the queen inserts her abdomen into a cell, the position of her head can indicate which side the deposition takes place. 

Are you a beekeeper? Buy queen bees for your farm in just a few clicks!

If you need to buy bees for your farm, choose Apicoltura Laterza! For years we have been dealing with the production and sale of queen bees Ligustiche and Buckfast, the sale of bee cores on 5 frames and bee packs.

You can order our products directly online in a few clicks. We use professional and safe methods for shipping our bees. You will receive the bees in full force!

Want to find out more? View availability in real time and buy in a few clicks on the website: www.apicolturalaterza.it