The queen bee plays a central role in a honey bee colony, acting as the sole reproductive female with fully developed ovaries. Her primary functions include laying a vast number of eggs, which ensures the continuous replenishment of the worker bee population. Beyond egg-laying, the queen produces chemical scents, known as pheromones, that regulate the colony’s unity and cohesion. These pheromones influence worker bee behavior, suppressing ovarian development and maintaining social order within the hive.
Immediate Colony Response
Upon the sudden absence of a queen, honey bee colonies exhibit immediate changes in behavior. Worker bees quickly detect her absence through diminishing levels of queen pheromones. Within hours or a few days, the organized activity of the colony begins to break down.
Bees may become agitated, disoriented, and exhibit a frantic buzzing sound, often a high-pitched whine or roar.
The absence of queen pheromones also leads to a cessation of new egg-laying, apparent as existing brood hatches and no new eggs appear. Nurse bees, typically caring for young larvae, find themselves with less brood, shifting their activities. Worker bees may become irritable or nervous, and foraging activity might increase.
The Emergency Queen Rearing Process
In response to queenlessness, a honey bee colony initiates an emergency queen rearing process to produce a replacement queen. Worker bees identify young larvae, typically three days old or younger, from existing worker brood. These selected larvae are usually housed in standard hexagonal worker cells.
To transform these into queen cells, worker bees rapidly modify the structure by tearing down surrounding cells and building an enlarged, peanut-shaped cell that hangs vertically. This transformation hinges on the diet provided to these chosen larvae.
While all young larvae receive royal jelly for their first few days, larvae destined to become queens are fed royal jelly exclusively and in copious amounts throughout their developmental period. Royal jelly, a milky substance secreted from nurse bees, contains proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and various bioactive substances.
This specialized, nutrient-rich diet triggers molecular events, influencing gene expression and promoting the development of queen morphology, including fully developed ovaries. The larva then progresses through pupation within this emergency queen cell, with development from egg to adult queen taking approximately 15.7 to 18 days.
Once a new virgin queen emerges, she may go on several “nuptial flights” to mate with multiple drones to store sperm for her egg-laying life.
Colony Fate Without a Queen
The long-term fate of a queenless colony hinges on the success of its emergency queen rearing efforts. If a new queen successfully emerges, mates, and begins laying fertilized eggs, the colony can resume normal function. Her presence and the re-establishment of queen pheromones restore order and suppress laying worker development. Continuous egg-laying ensures the population is replenished, allowing the hive to regain strength and productivity.
However, if emergency queen rearing fails—because no suitable young larvae were available, the virgin queen dies during development or mating flights, or she fails to mate—the colony faces severe consequences.
Without a mated queen, worker bees’ ovaries may develop due to the prolonged absence of queen pheromones, leading to “laying workers.” These worker bees can only lay unfertilized eggs, which develop exclusively into male drones.
This leads to a population imbalance, with an increasing number of drones and a dwindling workforce of female worker bees. Since drones do not contribute to foraging, hive maintenance, or brood care, the colony’s ability to perform tasks declines.
Eventually, the worker bee population dwindles as older bees die without replacement, resources are depleted, and the hive becomes vulnerable to pests and diseases. This decline ultimately leads to colony collapse, or in some cases, the remaining bees may abscond, abandoning the hive entirely.