A brief look at the beehive reveals that the workers take particular care of one bee, far larger than themselves. The other bees supply all these bee's needs, such as feeding, cleaning and security. Although any hive contains tens of thousands of bees, there is only one queen, whose longevity is of vital importance to the entire hive. She ensures the continuity of the colony. In addition, discipline in the colony is ensured by substances she releases.

Throughout her life, the queen does nothing but lay eggs. She is always inside the hive, never leaves it, and lays eggs every day from early spring through late summer. The workers undertake all aspects of her care. As the queen moves around in the hive, a group of workers gather around her, feeding her constantly, stroking her with their antennae and licking her clean. In short, the queen does not involve in anything regarding her own care, because her only duty is to lay eggs to perpetuate the hive.

The queen bee is of the utmost importance to the hive, keeping the colony alive. The worker bees therefore meet all her needs. This photograph shows workers taking a close interest in all aspects of the queen’s welfare, feeding her with great care and ensuring her safety. It is God Who provides the workers with this dedication. The bees behave under His inspiration

The Queen: A Rather Different Bee

The larvae of queen bees are raised in special brood cells.

The queen bee is set apart from the other bees right from her larval stage. Queens are raised in different combs with different features from those of the other bees. This site where the queen is raised consists of special cells hanging upside down from the comb. Since she is larger than the other bees, these cells are also constructed on a larger scale.44

As has been emphasized in earlier sections, there is no difference between the egg that hatches into a queen and an egg that produces the workers. The queen is the result of special feeding with royal jelly over her six-day larval period, and emerges not as an ordinary female worker, but as one very different in terms of appearance and function. Workers are fed royal jelly for only three days, but the queen receives it for the full six days of her larval stage.45

The ingredients and amount of the royal jelly given to the queen are specially regulated. Research has established that while other bees are only given 3 milligrams throughout their larval stage, the queen is given 10 milligrams. Simply on account of this difference in feeding, the queen and a worker emerge as two very different creatures, with very different morphological characteristics from one another.46

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• 44. Thomas A.Sebeok, Animal Communication, Indiana Unv. Press, London, p.437.
• 45. Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia, Vol.2, p.106.
• 46. Ali Demirsoy, Yasamin Temel Kurallari, Omurgasizlar/Bocekler (The Basic Rules of Life, Invertebrates/Insects), Entomology Vol. II / Part II, p.212.

This article is based on the works of Harunyahya www.harunyahya.com