The most fascinating part of the answer is that a queen bee and a worker bee begin their lives in exactly the same way.
Both develop from fertilized eggs laid by the current queen. The difference isn’t in the egg.
The difference is in how the larva is fed.
Every queen starts as an ordinary larva
When an egg hatches, it becomes a tiny larva. For the first few days, all larvae receive the same nutrient rich food. If the colony however decides it needs a new queen, the bees begin treating one of those larvae very differently. The chosen larva is placed in a special queen cell and fed generous amounts of royal jelly throughout its entire larval development.
That special diet changes everything.
How can food change a bee?
It almost sounds unbelievable, but two larvae with the exact same genetic makeup can develop into completely different individuals dependin’ on how they’re fed. A larva destined to become a worker bee develops into a bee that cleans cells, builds wax, cares for brood and gathers nectar and pollen.
A larva that continues to receive royal jelly develops into a queen.
The queen grows larger, lives significantly longer and gains the ability to lay eggs. During peak season, she may lay thousands of eggs in a single day.
When do bees need a new queen?
Honeybees raise new queens for several different reasons. This can happen when:
The colony is preparing to swarm
The current queen has become old or weak
The queen suddenly disappears
The beekeeper wants to create a split or a new colony
In every case, the worker bees begin raising a new queen by selecting suitable young larvae and giving them special care.
What happens when the new queen emerges?
When a young queen leaves her queen cell, her journey is only just beginning.
After a period of maturation, she takes her mating flights and mates with drones from other colonies. Once those flights are complete, she returns to the hive and begins her life as the colony’s new queen.
If all goes well, that same queen may lead the colony for several years.
One of nature's strangest decisions
What fascinates me most is that the bees themselves decide when a new queen is needed.
They don’t wait for help from the outside.
When the colony determines that the time has come, they begi’ raising the next generation’s leader simply by selecting a larva and giving it the very best start in life. In a sense, the answer to the question has been sitting inside the hive all along.
The potential for a new queen is always there, hidden among thousands of ordinary larvae.
A lesson from the hive
I think the queen’s story reminds us how small differences can lead to extraordinary outcomes.
Two larvae begin life in exactly the same way.
A few days later, they are following completely different paths.
One becomes a worker bee that may live only a few weeks during the busy summer season. The other becomes a queen capable of laying the foundation for future generations of bees. The more ya learn about honeybees, the more stories like this you discover. And maybe that’s exactly why beekeeping never stops being fascinating.
Fredrik 🐝