Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Shedoesnotgathernectarorpollen,makehoney,oreventakecareofheryoung.These
are the jobs of the worker bees. As a matter of fact, the queen rarely leaves the hive
except to mate with the male drones or to swarm.
QUEEN CUP
Within her first week, the newly emerged virgin queen leaves the hive for the very
first time on what is called a nuptial flight. This dramatic event between the queen and
drones from other hives happens in the air, well above the hive and the normal flight
path of the worker bees. Drones gather in drone congregation areas . It is not known
how these areas are decided upon, only that they are places away from the hive where
the drones meet up and wait for a queen to fly by. The fastest drones are able to catch
a queen and mate with her. To attract drones, the queen secretes a series of pheromones
from her mandibular gland, called queen substance . The queen may mate with up to
twenty drones.Shemakes onlyonemating flight inherlifetime, because that oneflight
gives her a lifetime supply of sperm. She stores the sperm in her spermatheca , her fe-
male reproductive organ that accepts and carries all the sperm. Upon returning to the
hive, the queen begins laying eggs.
After she mates, the queen's glands mature and become functional, giving off pher-
omonesthatregulatealltheundertakingsofthebeehive.Pheromonesarechemicalmes-
sages, essential to honeybee communication, that trigger certain kinds of activities in
the hive. The queen's attendants distribute her pheromones to every bee in the hive by
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