A “queen bee” is the “queen” of a colony of honey bees. Honey bees live in colonies and build rather complex structures called hives. A queen is the mother of all of the hive’s population including the (female) “worker bees” and (male) “drone” bees. So, in each colony, there is only one reproductive female. And, again, that female is called the queen.
But, have you ever wondered what it takes to become "the queen?"
Surprisingly, the candidates are selected by the worker bees themselves. I say “candidates” because, although a number of virgin queens will grow to maturity, “[i]n the end, there can be only one.”
Just one queen to a hive.
The queen’s eggs are cared for by the worker bees. After the eggs have hatched, the young bee larvae continue to be raised by the worker bees. The members of the brood (young bees of the colony and hive) are raised in a comb -- not unlike a honeycomb.
Their separate “brood comb” is used only to house the young bees -- the members of the growing brood. As the worker bees nurture the brood, they select certain larvae and feed them a diet of a special food. That food causes these larvae to develop into reproductive virgin queen bees.
The young queen bee larvae are, like the young worker bees, sealed into one of those six-sided cells in the brood comb. But the cells containing the developing queens are fully stocked with pure royal jelly – the food of the “royal” queen honeybees. There, they develop and, eventually, emerge from their cells as young virgin queens.
As the virgin queen bees emerge from their cells, the old queen may leave the hive with a “swarm.” The "swarm" is composed of some, but not all, of the worker bees in the hive. Led by the old queen bee, the swarm will find a new location. There, they will build a new hive and form a new colony.
But why does the old queen leave her familiar hive when her own virgin queen daughters reach maturity?
Well, when you hear what happens next, you’ll understand why the old queen wants to “get out of town” as fast as possible.
The first young queens to emerge from their “cells” will hunt down any other young queens and try to kill them. Young queens don’t fight fair. Rivals will be stung to death as they are emerging from the cells of the brood comb. Sometimes, not content to wait for their potential rivals to actually emerge from their brood cells, young queens will burrow into a sealed cell and sting the resident-rival to death.
Although the old queen may have left with a swarm of followers to form a new colony, the process may be repeated with yet another swarm leaving the colony with a few of the recently hatched virgin queens. These young queens will get along until the new colony is established. But once the colony is formed, the virgin queens will have the same cut-throat power struggle. They will fight to the death until there is only one left.
But just being the last surviving queen bee in the colony isn’t enough. The worker bees still won’t recognize the lone survivor as the queen.
Why?
The queen is the only reproductive bee in the colony. With honeybees, the lone surviving young queen is still only the “apparent heir to the throne" because she is still a “virgin” queen. When the surviving queen mates, she immediately gives off a pheromone that signals the worker bees that she is a capable of reproduction.
One can almost imagine a sudden change in the demeanor or the worker bees who, after days of chaotic behavior toward their would-be sovereign, suddenly become still. Undoubtedly, they begin buzzing the honeybee equivalent of “All Hail the New Queen.”
And, then, what happens? Well, the new young queen will begin her reign. Occasionally, an outside queen can arrive at the door of the hive and announce a challenge to the reigning monarch. But this is quite rare.
Still, even aristocrats as absolutely "positioned" as queen bees have to “take a measure” of the political winds. Queen bees must be ever alert for the bee equivalent of a Parliamentary vote of “no confidence.” This happens when the aging queen discovers that the worker bees are suddenly raising a large group of new virgin queen bees in the brood comb.
Then, the old queen needs to plan a hasty getaway with a few key supporters – unless she is too old or ill to move. If she remains, she is likely to be the very last victim of last survivor of the new group of virgin queens.
Because . . . “in the end, there can be only one.”
All Hail the New Queen.
Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville,
Illinois
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