BEE QUEEN

The Queen Bee is the single most important individual in a honeybee colony. She is the mother of nearly all the bees in the hive and the only one capable of laying fertilized eggs.

Key Features:

• Unique Role: Her primary job is reproduction. A healthy queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day—more than her own body weight.

• Lifespan: While worker bees live for only weeks, a Queen can live for 3 to 5 years due to her exclusive diet of Royal Jelly.

• Pheromones: she produces "Queen Mandibular Pheromone" (QMP), a chemical signal that keeps the colony organized and prevents other females from reproducing.