Queen Bee (Mother Bee)

The queen bee, also known as the queen, is the only female individual in a colony of the honeybee species Apis mellifera with reproductive capability. Only one queen exists in each colony, and her presence is essential for the colony’s survival. The queen produces female worker bees from fertilized eggs and male bees (drones) from unfertilized eggs. In this sense, she is both the “mother” of the colony and, through the males produced from unfertilized eggs, also its “father”.

In terms of body structure, the queen can be easily distinguished from workers and drones. Her body is long, slender and glossy, with the abdomen significantly longer than that of worker bees. Her wings are also larger than those of workers. Her stinger is smooth, allowing her to use it multiple times if needed. This structure gives her an advantage when interacting with other members of the colony.

The queen is continuously fed by a group of “nurse bees” surrounding her. She cannot feed herself. These bees provide her with royal jelly to sustain her. This social support system is essential for the queen to maintain her high rate of egg-laying.

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The queen has two primary functions:

1. Laying eggs: A young and healthy queen can lay between 1,500 and 2,000 eggs per day depending on seasonal conditions. The size and productivity of the colony are directly dependent on this egg-laying capacity.
2. Secretion of pheromones: The queen maintains social order in the colony through the queen pheromone secreted by glands in her mandibles. This pheromone:
3. 1. Suppresses the rearing of new queens,
   2. Prevents the formation of false queens,
   3. Encourages worker bees to perform their division of labor,
   4. Maintains unity and harmony within the colony.

Queen pheromone consists chemically of unsaturated fatty acids such as 9-oxo-2-decenoic acid, and bees spread this signal throughout the colony by direct contact with one another.

The overall condition of the colony is directly dependent on the biological quality and genetic potential of the queen. The queen determines many aspects of the colony, including:

• Spring development rate,
• Efficiency in pollen and nectar collection,
• Wintering success,
• Swarming tendency,
• Resistance to diseases,
• Behavioral calmness.

Each of these characteristics directly or indirectly affects the colony’s annual honey production and sustainability.

For example, an old or low-quality queen lays more unfertilized eggs due to a decline in the number of sperm stored in her spermatheca. This increases the proportion of drones in the colony while reducing the number of worker bees, thereby lowering productivity.

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Factors influencing queen quality can be grouped into genetic and environmental categories:

• The genetic makeup of the queen and the drones she mates with,
• Applied breeding and selection programs,
• Genetic purity and rate of error-free mating.

• Age and timing of larval transfer,
• Season of rearing,
• Characteristics of the nurse colonies,
• Presence of sufficient and high-quality drones in the mating area,
• Disease and stress factors encountered during rearing.

Physical quality indicators include emergence weight, spermatheca volume, sperm count, and time to onset of egg-laying. These indicators are the primary parameters determining the queen’s acceptance rate and performance within the colony.

Considering the increasing number of colonies in Türkiye and the necessity of replacing queens every two years, approximately four million new queens are needed annually. However, current production falls far short of this demand. In Türkiye, fewer than 400,000 queens are reared each year.

The widespread use of low-quality queens leads to reduced colony productivity and economic losses in beekeeping operations. Quality analyses have shown that a large proportion of commercially available queens are inadequate in terms of live weight, sperm count, and fertilization rates.

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Colonies managed with high-quality queens:

• Have longer lifespans,
• Produce higher yields of honey, pollen and royal jelly,
• Are more resistant to diseases,
• Are more resilient during migratory beekeeping.

The queen is the carrier of the colony’s genetic structure and the regulator of its social organization. The quality of this single individual is decisive for the colony’s success and directly affects the efficiency of all beekeeping activities.