The queen bee
Each colony only has one queen. Her main role is to lay eggs.
Any bee egg has the potential to become a queen. If worker bees want to produce a new queen they will select a larvae that is only a few days old and begin to feed it royal jelly in a special queen cell. This larvae will develop faster than normal worker bees and nutrients in the royal jelly alter the development of the larvae, producing a queen with well developed ovaries (this is an example of an epigenetic effect).
Larvae that are not fed royal jelly develop into worker bees that have small undeveloped ovaries and are unable to lay eggs.
After 16 days a new queen will emerge. The queens sole role in the hive is to reproduce. She will mate with several drones early in her life and store their sperm to fertilise her eggs.
Queen bees can live up to 8 years and can lay over 1 million eggs. At the peak laying time in the spring she may lay 1500 eggs per day, more than her own body weight.
If the queen dies the worker will try to raise a new queen. If unsuccessful the colony will ultimately fail.
Any bee egg has the potential to become a queen. If worker bees want to produce a new queen they will select a larvae that is only a few days old and begin to feed it royal jelly in a special queen cell. This larvae will develop faster than normal worker bees and nutrients in the royal jelly alter the development of the larvae, producing a queen with well developed ovaries (this is an example of an epigenetic effect).
Larvae that are not fed royal jelly develop into worker bees that have small undeveloped ovaries and are unable to lay eggs.
After 16 days a new queen will emerge. The queens sole role in the hive is to reproduce. She will mate with several drones early in her life and store their sperm to fertilise her eggs.
Queen bees can live up to 8 years and can lay over 1 million eggs. At the peak laying time in the spring she may lay 1500 eggs per day, more than her own body weight.
If the queen dies the worker will try to raise a new queen. If unsuccessful the colony will ultimately fail.