Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The Queen
All bees begin as eggs laid by the queen of their colony. Eggs destined to become
queens and those destined to become workers are identical at the egg stage.
A queen bee can fertilize eggs with sperm stored in her spermatheca. As the devel-
oping egg passes through her system, sperm is released, and the egg is fertilized just
before she places it in the cell. For three days, the egg develops within its shell. On the
third day, the eggshell, or chorion, of the egg dissolves, releasing a tiny grublike larva.
Worker “house” bees immediately provide food for these tiny larvae, making a thou-
sand or more visits each day to feed them. This food, for the first two-and-a-half or three
days is identical for both workers and queens. It's a rich, nutritious mix, called
royal
jelly
, that the house bees produce from protein-rich pollen, carbohydrate-laden honey,
and enzymes they produce in special glands. The house bees add the royal jelly to the
cells, and one larva floats in each filled cell.
Larvae destined to be royalty see no change in this rich diet and continue to grow and
develop. Workers-to-be, however, get a diet change on about day three. Their rations are
downgraded in quantity and protein content, which keeps them from developing into
queens. This difference, called
progressive provisioning
, allows the royal jelly-fed lar-
vae to fully develop the reproductive organs and the hormone- and pheromone-produ-
cing glands necessary to fulfill their future role as queens. They also mature faster than
other bees, completing the egg-to-larva-to-pupa-to-adult cycle in only sixteen days,
compared to the twenty-one days required for workers and twenty-four for drones. (See
chart below.)
The cells in which queens are raised are different than worker cells. Because of the
enriched diet, queen larvae are larger than worker larvae and require more room. Their
cells either extend downward, filling the space between two adjacent combs, or hang
below a frame. A queen cell is about the size and texture of a peanut shell with an open-
ing at the bottom, making them easy to identify. The smaller worker larvae fit into the
horizontal cells of the brood nest.
Queen honey bees have long, tapered abdomens and are larger than workers. They vary
in color, depending on their breed.
