This week’s interesting factoid comes again from Beekeeping For Dummies and is particularly relevant to all the activity at my hive for the past few weeks:
“The queen bee is the heat and soul of the colony. She is the reason for nearly everything the rest of the colony does. … A good quality queen means a strong and productive hive. …She is [also] the only female with fully developed ovaries. The queen’s two primary purposes are to produce chemical scents that help regulate the unity of the colony and to lay eggs…
She’s always surrounded by a flock of attendants as she moves about the hive… Yet, she isn’t spoiled. These attendants are vital, because the queen is totally incapable of tending to her own basic needs. She can neither feed nor groom herself. She can’t even leave the hive to relieve herself [all the other bees in the hive leave the hive to do their business, even in winter!].”
As you can see, although you might have thousands of honey bees working busily away, the success, health, and temperament of your hive really comes down to the characteristics of just one ‘bug’! That is why the queen is so important. 🙂
Buzzy Bees 
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