What does a queen bee do inside the hive?

The role of queen bees: why they are so important to the swarm

The queen bee is the centerpiece of the whole hive. Without a queen bee, a swarm would have no way of existing. But why are queen bees so important? The role of the sovereign fulfills an absolutely necessary function for bees: reproduction .

In fact, the queen is the only individual in the hive capable of mating and reproducing. All the other bees present within the family do not have a reproductive system that allows them to lay fertile eggs . Each hive has only one queen bee. It allows the continuous exchange of bees and the consequent survival of a family.

The primary task of queen bees: laying eggs

The strength of a swarm depends a lot on the number of components and therefore on the production rate of the queen. A queen bee that is at the peak of her strength, can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day !

From these eggs, new individuals will be born, including a new queen. In fact, when the queen of the hive begins to age, it happens that the other bees begin to build royal cells in which the larvae destined to become queens will reside. This process occurs whenever the queen needs to be replaced.

The larvae found inside the real cells are nourished in a different way from the others. The royal jelly with which they receive nourishment, will make them develop in a different way, with larger dimensions and with a reproductive system capable of laying fertile eggs.

We can therefore say that the key role of a queen bee is precisely to lay eggs for the duration of her life. In fact, if you didn't know it, a queen spends her entire existence closed in the hive and leaves her "house" only at the moment of mating, which happens only once in her entire life. 

It is important to note that bees can choose the sex of their new births in advance. Female bees will be born from fertilized eggs, while drones (male bees) will be born from unfertilized eggs.

The worker bees always take care of the sovereign bee

Although the queen bee can be identified as the largest and strongest individual, it should be noted that queens are unable to survive alone.

Worker bees always take care of their queen bee precisely because, otherwise, she would go into certain death. The workers cater to her whatever needs, keep her warm, feed her and always make sure she is in full health. 

The workers know that if their ruler dies, there is no hope for the swarm. In fact, bees have a lifespan ranging from 30 to 60 days. Without a bee turnover, all individuals would die and the family would come to its end.

The worker bees take care of the queen even when she is replaced. When a queen is no longer productive, she has to leave the hive. At this stage, part of the swarm goes with her and settles elsewhere. Here the group of workers who follows her will take care of her until the end of her days. 

This process is called swarming .

All the drones in the colony are interested in the queen

The queen of a hive is the one who will win all the males in the colony. All drones mate with the queen during the nuptial flight.

In this phase, the queen emits many pheromones that attract the attention of all the males present in the hive and also in the neighboring ones. The drones mate with the queen one after the other and at the end of the process, they die.

In fact, after the mating phase, the drones leave their reproductive organ inside the queen and this causes her death. After the nuptial flight, the queen will have accumulated enough semen inside her spermathecae (particular internal sacs) to be able to fertilize eggs for the rest of her life.

The queen bee is the only bee that uses its sting for reproductive purposes and not for defense. The queen's sting is smooth and is called ovipositor due to its function of laying eggs.

The queen bee uses it as an attack tool only at the moment of her birth when she will have to contend for the throne with her opponent. 

We can say that the strength of a swarm depends on a perfect interaction between the queen and the rest of the bees. The ruler of the hive is the beating heart of the swarm but, without her family, she would not be able to survive even a single day.

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