Quick facts about Queen Bees

Like most monarchs, the Queen (Bee) is an illustrious member in her society. She is essential to maintaining the bee population and she is truly different than the others. Here are a few facts about Queen Bees that you may not know!

Queen Bees Rule Democratically: The hive’s daily tasks and upkeep are controlled by pheremones that happen instinctively. For example, when bees decide to vacate their hive the worker bees decide by voting. 

Queen Bees Live between 2-7 years: Yep, pretty unbelievable right? A Queen’s lifespan usually is dependent on how many males she mates with. A Queen Bee will mate once and store the sperm in a special organ (which she takes from to lay eggs). Queens do mate with other drones as much as possible but they do not give her sperm. In most cases, a colony that has a well-mated queen will thrive. But as time goes on her sperm/egg genetic makeup will run out. When she runs out she is unable to mate again. This is when beekeepers usually replace their Queens (after 3 years). 

Before Swarming Queen Bees Diet: Because Queen Bees are sub-par fliers due to their size/weight they must restrict was they eat before they swarm or leave their hive. In order to fly, the Queen must loose ⅓ of her average body weight. 

The Queen Bee has Attendants: These attendants (worker bees) feed and groom the Queen Bee. She is unable to digest her own food since she does not have the same glands that workers use to digest their food. They predigest the food and then feed it to their Queen. Without her attendants, the Queen would die. 

Using Her Stinger Will Not Bring Her Death: The queen’s stinger is smooth and can be used multiple times. She uses her stinger in combat with other queen bees. Meanwhile, female worker bees, use their stingers for other reasons like protection from humans but die minutes after. 

This is a close-up image of worker bees, the queen is not pictured!