Because of mother’s day, lets talk about the Queen honeybee. The largest of the 3 castes, the queen is the dictator of the hive. She has an entourage of female honeybees that feed her and distribute her pheromones thought the colony, telling the others that all is well. She is larger than the other bees and while she does have a stinger, she only uses it when dueling with her successor. Once a queen is born, she is considered a virgin until her mating flight. While in flight, a drone (or several) mate with her and she returns to the hive. Her mating flight only happens once in her 3-4 year lifespan. Queens lay up to 2000 eggs per day. While all larvae are fed royal jelly through the first 3 days, the queen is fed royal jelly for her entire life. Even though she is the queen, if she slows down in egg laying or gets injured, the hive will create a new one to take her place.
