A New Queen and Her Legs

Found the newly emerged Sasha queen right on schedule. I didn't search the entire hive to find her queen cell, but since we know it takes 16 days for a queen to emerge, I am certain she was underway by the time I did my first inspection of the year, two weeks ago.  

This queen was brand new, just emerged and trying to get the hang of her long legs. I must have stood there a good half hour taking photos and watching her move around. I'm grateful for the  opportunity to witness such a rare sight and so pleased to share a short video of this occasion!

 

For now, all is right in the Sasha hive but this queen is to be replaced with a new Russian queen next week. That means the death of this little beauty, but she will live on as a teacher. I've been sharing dead bees with the education program at the Hard Bargain Farm Environmental Center for their pollinator program and plan on preserving this queen for them. What a rare opportunity it will be for students to explore a queen bee up close!

Did you know that a queen makes a sound? It is referred to as piping or tooting. Tooting starts soon after a queen has emerged from her cell but I didn't detect it today. Once this queen gets used to her legs and hardens a bit, she will seek out and kill any other potential queens by ripping open their cells and stinging them to death.

I recently read that worker bees will sometimes not allow a queen to dispose of all her potential rivals right away; they bar her from some of the cells. She will then begin to toot and may continue to do so day and night, perhaps for a week or more. Her tooting rises in intensity and volume which may heard more than 10 feet from the hive.

Meanwhile the maturing queen bees still in cells try to get out in their turn. The worker bees hold them back. As fast as one of them opens the cap of her cell the workers push it back in place and glue it shut. These imprisoned queens also start to pipe, but in a different pattern and at a lower tone than the free queen. The workers let out some of these queens, but only one at a time. The reigning queen and the newly released rival then battle until one is killed. A series of fights between the survivor and the new rivals goes on until only one queen is left. This survivor, still a virgin, then flies away from the hive to mate with several drones before she returns to begin laying eggs.