The monarch bee

 The monarch bee

The queen bee is essential to the survival of a colony of bees within a hive. The hive will eventually die in the absence of a queen bee. The only female bee in the hive with fully developed reproductive organs is the queen. The hive is not under the queen's authority. Her ultimate goal is to deposit eggs that will mature into bees that will perform various tasks within the hive.

When the bee is still in its larval stage, the queen bee is identified. Extra royal jelly is supplied to the larvae that have been designated as possible queens. The worker bees store a fluid called royal jelly in their heads. In addition, queen cells house larvae that the hive believes have the potential to become queens. The queen hangs, head down, during her development, and her cells are larger and shaped vertically rather than vertically like the cells utilized in the rest of the hive.

Four days after the larvae are laid, potential queen larvae must be identified.

The queen eats through the cap to exit her jail when the moment is right. She makes a sound while chewing, which is thought to alert other hatching queens to her presence. Experts in music will identify the sound as a G sharp. It is common to discover that, following the first queen bee's hatch, the remaining queen cells have slits that the young queen has chewed through, so killing the larvae that are still developing inside the cells. The destroyed larvae are known as virgin queens by beekeepers. A number of young queens will be attempted to survive by worker bees at

a time to ensure that if the first queen fails to find a mate or does not make it through her nuptial flight, there will be a backup queen ready.

The new queen departs the hive as soon as she is old enough to fly. She has to locate multiple drone bees from a separate hive to mate with while she is away from the colony. It is crucial that the queen mate with at least twelve drones during her nuptial voyage. For the remainder of her life, she will use the sperm that she gathers on this voyage. The survival of the others depends on the queen's ability to make the wedding flight.

of the colony is under danger. In order to assist stop that from happening, most hives attempt to maintain many virgin queens alive.

The old queen in most hives is still allowed to lay eggs, but she departs the hive when it's time for the other bees to swarm.

Drone bees perish after mating with a queen.

When a queen bee is surrounded by other bees, it is usually easy to identify her. She is significantly longer in the abdomen than the other beekeepers. Many beekeepers label their queen with a tiny dab of paint to make the identification process go more quickly.

The queen bee has a typical life span of two to three years.