The queen bee

When I harvested some honey recently I also carried out a routine hive inspection, something that is carried out at regular intervals through the Summer. There are a number of things that are looked for to assess the progress of the hive and its overall health and wellbeing. One of the things observed for is the presence of the queen. In a full hive it is not always easy to find her. However, there are proxy indicators of her presence such as eggs or lava in the frame cells and 'capped brood', that is cells that have been capped within which the lava metamorphose into mature bees. These are all signs that the queen is quietly working away with commitment to the stability of the hive.

The queen is identifiable because she is distinctly larger than the mass of worker bees and very often one way of spotting her is that she will be surrounded by a crowd of retainers keeping her safe. The work of the hive is largely carried out by worker bees but the presence of the queen is critical and she is very much the focus of attention by the hive population. 

The queen emits pheromones, unseen signals of her presence. These play an essential role for the overall functioning of the hive and is the 'glue' that provides cohesion for the community of bees. If something happens to the queen bee, perhaps she has come to the end of her life, the pheromones disappear with her. The result of this is that the hive becomes very unsettled. It can have a de-stabilising effect and disturb the overall functioning of the hive. This will continue until a successor becomes established.

When carrying out a hive inspection, one other characteristic, therefore, is to observe for the overall temperament of the bees. Their behaviour gives in indication as to how settled they are in the hive.  I give a rating ranging  from 1 (calm) to 5 (agitated and angry). Hopefully the rating will come down again soon if it is assessed on the higher side.