The queen is the colony's only reproducing female. She is not a ruler; she is the centre of the colony's reproduction and cohesion.

Her two functions

• Laying eggs: The colony's population depends on it
• Producing pheromone: It tells the colony it has a queen, suppresses ovary development in the workers and holds the colony together

The second function is at least as important as the first. When the pheromone weakens the colony receives a signal to renew or to divide.

Appearance

• The abdomen is markedly longer than a worker's
• The wings do not cover the whole abdomen
• The legs are longer and held further out
• Her movement is calmer and more deliberate
• There is no pollen basket

Finding the queen takes time; marking her shortens that time considerably.

Development and mating

The queen comes from the same egg as a worker; the difference is that she is fed continuously on royal jelly.

A few days after emerging she goes on her mating flight and mates with a large number of drones. She uses the sperm she receives for the rest of her life.

Multiple mating gives the colony genetic diversity, which directly increases resistance to disease.

Laying

The queen measures the cell and decides accordingly:

• A fertilised egg gives a female: a worker or a queen
• An unfertilised egg gives a drone

A drone therefore has no father.

Ageing

Laying capacity and pheromone output decline with the years. The consequences:

• The brood pattern deteriorates and becomes patchy
• The tendency to swarm increases
• The colony attempts to supersede her

Regular requeening manages swarming pressure and behavioural problems together.

Signs of queenlessness

• No eggs
• Emergency queen cells built
• Raised drone brood in worker cells — the sign of laying workers
• Multiple eggs per cell
• The colony restless and noisy