Long Live the Queen!
Explore the life of the infamous Queen Bee, and discover what makes her so special.
What do you think of when you hear the word bee? Most people think of the honey that is produced by this social community. Social? Yes! Depending on the role of the bee they could be creating a nest, caring for the young, gathering food, or in charge of communication… and they’re all reliant on the queen. In the honey bee society there are 3 classes- the drones (male), the workers (female), and the queen. Today we are going to examine the life of a queen!
A Queens Duty
A queen has one purpose, to reproduce. During her lifespan of 2–7 years, the queen is completely reliant on the hive to care and protect her. To achieve this a group of worker bees look to her every need, and attendant bees gather her pheromones as a form of communication to instruct worker bees throughout the rest of the hive. And why not — since the majority, if not all, of the hive are her offspring!
After just one mating session (which can be daily for up to a week) with several drones, a queen is able to lay up to 2000 fertilized eggs per day for the rest of her life.
Royal Bloodlines
Every hive must have a queen or their numbers will dwindle until the hive collapses. The worker bees do everything in their power to keep her healthy and protected as the hives entire future depends on her. But what if she should die unexpectedly? The worker bees will select a new queen from the hatchlings. All new hatchlings get fed a nutrient rich substance called “Royal Jelly” for a few days, however creating a queen requires special treatment.
To make a queen she must be fed the Royal Jelly exclusively which will help her to achieve sexual maturity.
Worker bees cannot develop to this point without this special diet. On the bright side, they get to go outside and visit scores of flowers… not such a terrible fate.
However, you will not find any potential queens hatching from the comb. The worker bees create a “queen cup” on top of the comb. After the queen has laid a fertilized egg in the cup, the workers will cap it with wax. When the new virgin queen is ready to emerge, she will chew her way out.
A Sword Like No Other
Anyone who has been stung by a bee is too familiar with the barbed stinger from a regular bee which will stay lodged in it’s victim. So, when defending the queen a bee will give it’s life as the stinger is pulled from her abdomen.
Interestingly, queen bees have a smooth stinger with no barbs. This allows her to sting time and time again without losing her life. When a rival queen tries to claim the hive, the two queens will sting each other repeatedly until one cowers in defeat. But, where could this rival queen come from?
A Kingdom Divided
In preparation for the potential loss of their beloved queen, the worker bees will create “queen cups” that are specially designed for hatching new queens. And these new queens hatch right on schedule, just like any other bee. This new virgin queen will announce her arrival in the whistle tone of G#.
It is believed that this is a sort of battle cry to let the worker bees know that she is worthy of following.
If the hive still has a ruling queen, the new virgin queen and the existing queen will duel for control of the hive using their unbarbed stingers. The fight is intense and brutal. The winner remains, and the loser calls for loyal followers as they swarm to look for a new place to build a hive.
So, next time you see a mass of bees suddenly appear, have a little sympathy. They’ve had a hard day!
BUZZcoin™ is using blockchain technology to gather data from its BC-HMD™ (BUZZcoin Hive Mind Device) and BC-QMM™ (BUZZcoin Queen Middleware Masternodes) SmartHives Devices all over the planet with gathered on the BC-HMN™ (Hive Mind Network) the goal of reversing the bee depopulation. For more information about our project please see our Whitepaper at https://www.buzzcoin.info/wp.pdf
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