QUEEN BEE

Queen Bee is an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony. The queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature. The virgin queen is developed from a fertilized egg. The young queen larva develops differently because it is more heavily fed royal jelly, a protein-rich secretion from glands on the heads of young workers. If not for being heavily fed royal jelly, the queen larva would have developed into a regular worker bee. The queen larvae are fed on royal jelly exclusively. As a result of the difference in diet, the queen will develop into a sexually mature female, unlike the worker bees.

When young virgin queen emerges from queen cells, they generally seek out virgin queens rival and attempt to kill them. Virgin queens quickly find and kill (by stinging) any other emerged virgin queen (or be dispatched themselves), as well as any unemerged queens. When a colony remains in swarm mode after the prime swarm has left, the workers may prevent virgins from fighting and one or several virgins may go with after-swarms. Other virgins may stay behind with the remnant of the hive. As many as 21 virgin queens have been counted in a single large swarm. When the after-swarm settles into a new home, the virgins then resume normal behavior and fight to the death until only one remains.

MATURED QUEEN BEE