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The queen in a colony is the only full-fledged female with well-developed sexual organs. It is the mother of all colony: worker bees, drones and young queens. The queen is constantly surrounded by worker bees, which take care of it: they provide food, clean her body, clear cells to lay eggs in them, etc. Bees recognize the presence of the queen bee in a colony by its smell.
The queen evolves special substance, the so-called "Queen Mandibular Pheromone" that is fed to her attendant worker bees. The smell of this substance is distributed to all the bees of the colony due to the continuous exchange of food between them. In case of the queen’s death the flow of the substance stops and the whole colony feels its absence quickly. The differs from the worker bees by a larger body size from 18 to 25 mm, while the worker bees are from 12 to 15 mm, and relatively short wings (compared with body length).
Compared with the worker bees the proboscis of the queen is shorter (3.5 mm). Like worker bees it has a stinger, but uses it only in the struggle with other queens.
The mated queen weighs approximately 0.25 g, while the weight of a working bee is 0.1 g on average. The reproduction organs of the queen bee develop very strongly. Ovaries consist of 180-200 egg tubes, the eggs are germed and developed in them. Paired oviducts come from ovaries. The paired oviducts connect to one unpaired oviduct, which is connected with spermatheca by a small spermaduct.
When mating drone sperm containing a large number of sperm cells enters the spermatheca of the queen, where it is stored during the lifetime of a queen. The eggs laid by the queen pass from the ovaries through paired oviducts first and then through unpaired. If during this process the sperm cells (8-12 pieces) will get into a mature egg from the spermatheca, then the eggs will be fertilized. If the sperm of drones do not get into them, the eggs remain unfertilized. Consequently, the queen lays eggs fertilized and unfertilized. Unfertilized eggs give only male drones. The latter thus have no father and inherit properties of matter. Fertilized eggs give queen bees and worker bees. They inherit the properties of queens that have laid the eggs and drones which mated with the queen. Developing organisms of all individuals of bee colonies are also influenced by working bees - nurses.
Why do completely identical fertilized eggs give queens and worker bees as well? The answer to this question is found by modern biological science. It is known that the life of bees, like all living organisms, is in close contact with their surrounding environment. V. Michurin pointed out that forming of organisms is largely dependent on environmental conditions, this eternally powerful factor in the whole universe which influence formed all forms of living organisms including human beings.
One of the most powerful environmental factors that affect the organism is food. In this regard, the particularly important role in forming young organisms in the family is played by worker bees. They feed and rear all the younger generation of the family. If the larva developing from a fertilized egg is fed only with heavy royal jelly evolved by maxillary glands before being capped, it turns into a queen. If the larva is fed with honey and bee bread (a protein feed made from pollen) after three days of her life, the larva turns into a working bee.
Queen rearing
Honeybees rear queens in large cells built specially for this – queen cups. They can bee build on ordinary cells where the queen has already laid fertilized eggs. These queen cups are built after the sudden death of the old queen to bring up a new one. While preparing for bees swarming (during which the queen leaves the hive with a swarm) the old queen lays eggs to bring new queens in specially build queen cells - the base for future queen cups. These queen cells are usually built at the edges of the cells. The queens developed in such cups are called swarm queens.
After three days the larva hatches from the egg and it is fed with royal jelly. The larva is growing rapidly, and after 5 days (8 days after the egg was laid), the bees seal the queen cell with the porous lid made from the mixture of wax and bee bread. In the sealed queen cell the larva turns into a chrysalis within 7-8 days and then into an adult insect - a young queen. Thus, the development of the queen from an egg to an adult insect lasts 16 days on average.
Within 3-4 days after release from the queen cup the young queen start to take overflights to learn the territory and the location of the hive. On the 7-10th day of its life it flies to mate with drones ("mating flights"). The duration of such flights is about 20 minutes. The queen usually mates with 6-8 drones, but sometimes the number can increase, and the queen can fly to mate more than once.
10-day-old queen bee begins laying eggs (if bad weather had not delayed mating with drones). First the young queens lay a small number of eggs, but then the number is growing rapidly. In spring and summer, under favorable conditions, the queen bees lay 1500-2000 or more eggs a day, and during the entire season they lay up to 150-200 thousand eggs. This number of eggs can be laid by the queen only in a strong colony, which has a large hive with good cells and sufficient storage of honey and bee bread. Besides, there should be a lavish or long period of nectar gathering.
The weight of eggs laid by the queen during the day often exceeds the weight of her body. Such a large number of eggs can be laid by the queen only in case of abundant and high-calorie diet. Throughout the period of egg-laying the queen is fed by bees with highly nutritious food – royal jelly.
The queen plays the most important role during the first two years of its life. Starting from the third year the number of the laid eggs decreases rapidly. Moreover the old queens lay many unfertilized eggs which give drones. Such queens are called “drone layers”.
Queen bees live for up to five years or more.
Queen bee
The queen in a colony is the only full-fledged female with well-developed sexual organs. It is the mother of all colony: worker bees, drones and young queens. The queen is constantly surrounded by worker bees, which take care of it: they provide food, clean her body, clear cells to lay eggs in them, etc. Bees recognize the presence of the queen bee in a colony by its smell.
The queen evolves special substance, the so-called "Queen Mandibular Pheromone" that is fed to her attendant worker bees. The smell of this substance is distributed to all the bees of the colony due to the continuous exchange of food between them. In case of the queen’s death the flow of the substance stops and the whole colony feels its absence quickly. The differs from the worker bees by a larger body size from 18 to 25 mm, while the worker bees are from 12 to 15 mm, and relatively short wings (compared with body length).
Compared with the worker bees the proboscis of the queen is shorter (3.5 mm). Like worker bees it has a stinger, but uses it only in the struggle with other queens.
The mated queen weighs approximately 0.25 g, while the weight of a working bee is 0.1 g on average. The reproduction organs of the queen bee develop very strongly. Ovaries consist of 180-200 egg tubes, the eggs are germed and developed in them. Paired oviducts come from ovaries. The paired oviducts connect to one unpaired oviduct, which is connected with spermatheca by a small spermaduct.
When mating drone sperm containing a large number of sperm cells enters the spermatheca of the queen, where it is stored during the lifetime of a queen. The eggs laid by the queen pass from the ovaries through paired oviducts first and then through unpaired. If during this process the sperm cells (8-12 pieces) will get into a mature egg from the spermatheca, then the eggs will be fertilized. If the sperm of drones do not get into them, the eggs remain unfertilized. Consequently, the queen lays eggs fertilized and unfertilized. Unfertilized eggs give only male drones. The latter thus have no father and inherit properties of matter. Fertilized eggs give queen bees and worker bees. They inherit the properties of queens that have laid the eggs and drones which mated with the queen. Developing organisms of all individuals of bee colonies are also influenced by working bees - nurses.
Why do completely identical fertilized eggs give queens and worker bees as well? The answer to this question is found by modern biological science. It is known that the life of bees, like all living organisms, is in close contact with their surrounding environment. V. Michurin pointed out that forming of organisms is largely dependent on environmental conditions, this eternally powerful factor in the whole universe which influence formed all forms of living organisms including human beings.
One of the most powerful environmental factors that affect the organism is food. In this regard, the particularly important role in forming young organisms in the family is played by worker bees. They feed and rear all the younger generation of the family. If the larva developing from a fertilized egg is fed only with heavy royal jelly evolved by maxillary glands before being capped, it turns into a queen. If the larva is fed with honey and bee bread (a protein feed made from pollen) after three days of her life, the larva turns into a working bee.
Queen rearing
Honeybees rear queens in large cells built specially for this – queen cups. They can bee build on ordinary cells where the queen has already laid fertilized eggs. These queen cups are built after the sudden death of the old queen to bring up a new one. While preparing for bees swarming (during which the queen leaves the hive with a swarm) the old queen lays eggs to bring new queens in specially build queen cells - the base for future queen cups. These queen cells are usually built at the edges of the cells. The queens developed in such cups are called swarm queens.
After three days the larva hatches from the egg and it is fed with royal jelly. The larva is growing rapidly, and after 5 days (8 days after the egg was laid), the bees seal the queen cell with the porous lid made from the mixture of wax and bee bread. In the sealed queen cell the larva turns into a chrysalis within 7-8 days and then into an adult insect - a young queen. Thus, the development of the queen from an egg to an adult insect lasts 16 days on average.
Within 3-4 days after release from the queen cup the young queen start to take overflights to learn the territory and the location of the hive. On the 7-10th day of its life it flies to mate with drones ("mating flights"). The duration of such flights is about 20 minutes. The queen usually mates with 6-8 drones, but sometimes the number can increase, and the queen can fly to mate more than once.
10-day-old queen bee begins laying eggs (if bad weather had not delayed mating with drones). First the young queens lay a small number of eggs, but then the number is growing rapidly. In spring and summer, under favorable conditions, the queen bees lay 1500-2000 or more eggs a day, and during the entire season they lay up to 150-200 thousand eggs. This number of eggs can be laid by the queen only in a strong colony, which has a large hive with good cells and sufficient storage of honey and bee bread. Besides, there should be a lavish or long period of nectar gathering.
The weight of eggs laid by the queen during the day often exceeds the weight of her body. Such a large number of eggs can be laid by the queen only in case of abundant and high-calorie diet. Throughout the period of egg-laying the queen is fed by bees with highly nutritious food – royal jelly.
The queen plays the most important role during the first two years of its life. Starting from the third year the number of the laid eggs decreases rapidly. Moreover the old queens lay many unfertilized eggs which give drones. Such queens are called “drone layers”.
Queen bees live for up to five years or more.
The article is based on the facts derived from The Free Encyclopedia - Wikipedia on conditions of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.
