A honey bee colony, often called a hive, typically operates under a strict system of monogyny, meaning it contains only a single egg-laying queen bee. This queen is the sole reproductive female, responsible for producing the tens of thousands of worker bees and drones. A healthy, established colony functions best with one queen whose constant output of pheromones and eggs maintains order and productivity. While the single-queen model is standard, the number can temporarily fluctuate above or drop to zero during the hive’s life cycle.
The Monarchy Rule: Why Only One Queen?
The enforcement of the single-queen rule relies on chemical communication. The mated queen produces a powerful mixture of compounds, primarily from her mandibular glands, known as Queen Mandibular Pheromone (QMP). Worker bees constantly transfer this pheromone throughout the hive as they groom and feed the queen, spreading the chemical signal.
QMP acts as a social brake on the reproductive development of female worker bees. Exposure to this pheromone suppresses the workers’ ovaries, preventing them from laying eggs. When QMP levels are high and evenly distributed, worker bees remain sterile and focus exclusively on their assigned tasks.
QMP also inhibits workers from constructing new queen cells, preventing the rearing of rival queens. This chemical control ensures the colony focuses on the survival and growth of the current queen’s offspring. The strength of the queen’s signal is directly tied to her health, with a healthy, laying queen producing a much stronger signal.
Temporary Coexistence: When Two Queens Are Present
Hives can temporarily host two queens during specific transition periods, most commonly during swarming or supersedure.
Swarming
Swarming is the colony’s natural method of reproduction. The old, mated queen leaves the original hive with a large portion of the worker population. Before this departure, the colony rears several new, virgin queens.
For a brief time, the old queen and the newly emerged virgin queens may coexist. The old queen soon leaves the hive with the swarm. The remaining virgin queens will fight, or be culled by workers, until only one remains to take over the colony.
Supersedure
Supersedure is a process where the colony replaces a failing or aging queen without swarming. Workers recognize the current queen’s declining pheromone output or egg-laying and quietly raise one or two new queens.
In this scenario, the old queen and the newly mated daughter queen may lay eggs side-by-side for weeks or months. This overlap ensures uninterrupted brood production, which is crucial for the colony’s survival. Eventually, the workers eliminate the old queen, leaving the vigorous new queen in charge.
The Queenless State: What Happens When There Are None?
If the queen is suddenly lost, the hive enters a “queenless state.” The immediate loss of the queen’s pheromone signal causes a distinct behavioral shift in the worker bees. Workers may exhibit disorganized behavior or increased agitation as the regulatory signal dissipates.
Without QMP to suppress their reproductive systems, some worker bees activate their ovaries. This development usually takes about three weeks following the loss of the queen, resulting in the emergence of “laying workers.” Since worker bees cannot mate, the eggs they lay are unfertilized.
Unfertilized eggs develop only into male bees, or drones. Laying workers often deposit multiple eggs haphazardly in a single cell, creating a spotty brood pattern. The hive becomes populated only by drones, which do not forage or perform necessary tasks, leading to a catastrophic imbalance. This lack of new female worker bees causes the colony to dwindle and collapse unless a new, mated queen is introduced.