elevage reines abeilles

Bees are capable of managing the renewal of their Queen without human interference.

Where does the Queen come from?

A Queen is quite simply a worker larvae that develops in 16 days having been fed on Royal jelly. A worker bee will develop in 21 to 23 days and a male in 24 to 26 days.

This diet enables the Queen to become longer and fatter. She will also develop spermatic glands which enable her to store sperm from 8 to 12 males that she will encounter during her first year of reproduction.

She will live for a maximum of 5 years.

I quickly realised that the Queen’s principal role is to maintain the population of the hive but not one of a decision-making nature.