Queen Bee (form - function) with amazing facts

The queen bee is the most important member of every hive.

All bees in the hive are considered their offspring. They are responsible for laying eggs on their own.

You may not know, but each nest contains only one queen, tens of thousands of workers, and hundreds of males.

Although she is the queen, her role is not royal at all, as it is mainly an Umayyad role.

Because the main controller in the hive as it is known are the workers who can raise a new queen or end the life of the current queen bee.

Now, after this simple introduction, let’s get acquainted quickly with…

queen bee shape

Although bees are often closely related, the queen has some distinctive characteristics, the most important of which are:

These are the distinctive features of the queen, which you can see in the image of this article.

But in general, since she only leaves the colony once in her life, you will most likely not see her unless she begins to raise bees.

The continuity of the colony or cell depends mainly on the presence of the queen due to the main vital roles that she plays.

The most important thing that the Queen does is the following:

Laying eggs: It is the main function that makes her basically the queen due to her fertility.
Communication in the colony: The most important role played by the queen is to maintain communication between the colony members and each other as a result of secreting a chemical called pheromones.

These are the main roles that the queen plays in the colony.

Now let me tell you some information about this distinctive insect that you may not have read or heard about before.

The queen comes out of the colony only once in her entire life to mate.
It is the only member of the nest capable of laying eggs, while the rest of the cell females cannot.
Their lives are ended directly by the workers as soon as they are unable to lay eggs.
She lays approximately 2000 eggs per day to maintain the number in the cell.
The queen lays two types of eggs (fertilized, which turns into workers, and the future queen) (unfertilized and through which males grow).
The queen stores the sperm obtained from males during mating for future use.
In terms of size, the queen is the largest member of any colony.
The queen needs approximately 15 – 17 days to become mature, which is almost the shortest life cycle.
She does not rule the colony, she just gives birth to new members.
The only difference between the queen and the worker is the quality of the food that she feeds on, which makes her reproductive system mature.

This was the most important information you might need to know about the queen bee in any hive.

The queen of the hive is eliminated in one of two cases:

Her inability to produce eggs and here she is assassinated by worker bees.
A new queen appears and she wants to get this role, so she stings her to end her life.

Now the worker bees always need an alternative plan in case this happens in order to ensure the continuity of the hive.

The workers pick and choose some very small larvae to compete for the role of the new queen.
Now it is constantly fed with a food different from the rest of the cell called royal food.
This food matures the reproductive system of these new females and nourishes them and makes their bodies bigger.
After 16 days of laying the fertilized egg and feeding with royal jelly, these new queens become mature individuals who can now mate, but who controls only one cell and the others are disposed of.

Now that you know the form and function of the queen bee, in addition to some interesting information about her.

Do you still have any questions regarding this matter?

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