The queen bee. She's big. She doesn't look like a normal bee (aka a worker bee). What does it mean to be the queen? What does the queen bee do? The simple answer is, the queen bee lays eggs. Lots of eggs. I think I told you hundreds of eggs per day- I was wrong- it's over a thousand eggs per day! Pretty much non-stop, every 20-30 seconds. Check out this video:
Every time the queen bee sticks her abdomen (tail-like part at the end) into the cell, she lays an egg at the bottom of the cell. These tiny eggs will hatch into tiny larvae, or baby insects. In this picture below the tiny white things that look like rice grains are the eggs, the little white worms that look like they are in a little droplet of liquid are the newborn larvae.
The queen (aka "Big Momma") is normally the only bee that lays eggs in the hive. Her extreme egg-laying at least partially explains why she is so much bigger than the other bees. Like a pregnant mother, she has a big abdomen or belly to grow and hold all of those eggs.
(egg picture from Penn State Cooperative Extension website: http://www.extension.org/pages/26741/inspecting-a-colony)
Dear Miss Tracy,
ReplyDeleteCan you please tell us if bees experience emotions like jealousy? I would be jealous of the queen bee, I think.