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To begin with, the queen bee does not rule the hive. The same human logic, which once determined that the earth was the center of the solar system, was used, in prior times, to explain the relationships of bees in a hive. Considering that widespread formal education did not, at that time, yet exist, unlike the age of monarchs, which did, the designation of a single bee as the "queen" of the hive was simply an inaccurate human social observation. Bees, however, are not human. One earlier observation about bee society proved to be accurate, though. The queen is vital to the existence of the hive.

Both the queen and worker bees are female. The queen bee is the only sexually developed female in the hive, the only bee capable of reproduction. In contrast, worker bees are sexually immature, or undeveloped, females.

Only a very few male bees, called drones, exist in the hive. The sole purpose of a drone is to mate with the queen of a different hive. If the mating does occur, the drone then dies. The queen with which the drone has mated requires only this single mating to lay eggs for the rest of her life.

Throughout a typical life span of three to five years, the queen bee may lay as many as a million eggs. Since laying eggs is her only task, the queen bee is constantly busy fulfilling her purpose.

Ten to fifteen worker bees are constantly nearby the queen to feed and groom her. Since the queen produces hormones which control various aspects of bee behavior, the grooming of the queen by the worker bee is important to the well-being of the entire hive. As the worker bees exchange food mouth to mouth, the hormones are also transferred and quickly circulate throughout the hive.

Most of the bees in a hive are worker bees. They are called worker bees because they do all the work in the hive, other than reproduction. With larger brains than that of the queen, the worker bees are the true rulers of the hive. By working in unison, the worker bees make all the decisions about the hive, including whether to replace an older queen or whether to raise an additional queen, if overcrowding occurs within a hive and it is time to begin an additional hive.

Worker bees determine the gender and type of bee that is born within the hive. By building honeycomb cells of different sizes and determining the kind of food to be fed to developing grubs, worker bees maintain bee type balance within the hive.

It is worker bees who feed all the grubs and bees in the hive. They also locate and gather pollen and nectar and turn these items into honey (bee food). As builders, worker bees create the hive itself, with its various sections for use as a nursery, or storage area for honey.

Since there can only be one queen in a hive (the queen will kill daughter queen bees just born unless blocked by worker bees), worker bees protect her, since she is the only bee capable of producing future generations of bees. It is an action vital to the continued existence of the hive.

By understanding the actual relationships within a hive, it is possible to develop a greater appreciation of the variety of bees that exist. Even though bee social structure does not reflect human society, it does not need to.

Learn more about this author, Peggy Barnett.
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