Introduction
The honeybee is a useful insect belonging to the phylum Arthopoda of invertebrates which produces and stores honey. There are mainly three species of honeybee reared in Nepal: Apis mellifera, Apis ellifera, and Apis cerana.
A Honey Bee Hive
They are social insects because they live in a colony with coordination and discipline as well as perfect work division among them. There are three types of honeybees in a colony.
Queen Bee
The queen bee is the only fertile female in a beehive, having well-developed ovaries.
Physical Characteristics of a Queen Bee
It is easily distinguished by its long tapering abdomen, short legs and wings. It has a small and round head. It has a stinger and can sting enemies.
Roles of a Queen Bee
It is responsible only for laying eggs. The queen has a special smell in its body. All
the drones and workers identify their colony based on the smell of the queen.
The queen usually mates only once in her life and stores the sperms received from
the drone in a sperm sac in her abdomen. The store of sperms lasts for two or more
years of egg-laying. When the store of sperms is used up, it may continue to lay
eggs but they all are unfertilized and will become drones. One of its larvae formed
from fertilized eggs is fed on royal jelly throughout the larva period and it becomes
a new queen. There is only one queen in a colony. Its main duties are to lay eggs
and to control the colony releasing special smell. A queen live for 2 to 5 years.