Who is the Queen Bee?
You might have heard of the term ‘queen bee’ before. It usually refers to a woman who is the leader of her pack, who oozes charm and confidence, and who has people worshipping the ground she walks on. In fact, world-renowned superstar Beyonce is known as Queen Bey—she is the leader of her group of fans called the Beyhive!
However, did you know that queen bees exist in actual beehives too? They’re much larger than the others and play a pivotal role in the daily lives of bees. Without a queen, the rest of the bees would only survive a few months at the very most. But why exactly is that?
What Does the Queen Bee Do?
Surprisingly, the life of a queen bee is not as royal as you might expect. She doesn’t go around telling the worker bees what to do—in fact, she hardly moves at all! Her wings are too small to lift her larger body, and there’s just no point in flying for her. Her primary job is to keep the colony growing, mating with worker bees and laying eggs day in and day out.
Additionally, she doesn’t hold much power in the hive. While worker bees do dote on her by bringing her food and protecting her from danger, she can be replaced at any time by her loyal servants, the working bees. When she has served her purpose, the old queen bee is killed by the worker bees through a process called supersedure. Here, worker bees will tightly “ball” around the old queen, raising her temperature and causing her to overheat and die.
All in all, the life of a queen bee doesn’t seem as fancy as it sounds.
What is the Queen Bee’s Role in Bee Removal Near Me?
Queen bees play an important role in swarming, which is a natural part of the bee’s life cycle. When the hive starts getting too crowded, worker bees start starving the queen bee, making her light enough to fly. Once she’s sufficiently light enough, the queen bee and about half of the colony take off in search of a new place to form a hive. Migrating bees usually look for places that are close to flowering plants like gardens, orchards, woodlands, and occasionally, a nice, cozy spot in the exterior of your house.
So, if you suddenly find yourself with a whole swarm of bees on your property, don’t freak out! They’re just bees trying to look for a new home. If you harm them in any way, you’re destroying a whole cluster of bees and making them more endangered than they already are. Instead, call an expert bee removal company and have them transfer the hive for you—they’re able to do this with minimal damage to your property and without harming the bees!
Now, there are several ways for bee removers to safely move a hive. One of them is by finding the queen bee. As worker bees follow their queen wherever she goes, moving the queen is an effective way of transferring the colony somewhere else. Within fifteen minutes of removing the queen bee from the hive, the rest of the bees will figure out the queen is gone and quickly go after her!
Bee removers start by having a new hive close to where the bees are. Then, they start moving the bees and their combs (if any) from the hive into the box, usually by scooping.
Contrary to popular belief, most species of bees are hesitant to sting. They only do it when they think they’re in danger because bees usually die after stinging. Additionally, bees rarely have the energy to sting after swarming for so long—they’re usually docile and cooperative during the move.
As the bees are being transferred, the expert bee remover looks for the queen bee. Queen bees can be differentiated from the others as they have longer abdomens and legs and have a large, black spot on their backs. Once they find the queen, they trap her safely in a plastic clip and move her over to the new hive. This is usually enough for transport—within seconds, the bees will be following her into the new hive!
In some cases, a swarm or hive could be queenless. This situation is very precarious—without a queen, there would be no new bees to replace the dying ones, and eventually, the entire colony dies out. Depending on the situation, there are a couple of ways to fix a queenless colony, and one of them is to introduce a new queen to them.
Queen bees are bred and sold for this very reason. Bee removers can either breed queen bees themselves or buy them online from other breeders.
Once they have the new queen, they put the caged queen into the new hive and look at how the bees respond. If the bees start swarming around her and taking care of her, that means they’ve accepted her. They then chew on the cage until the queen breaks free.
On the other hand, if the bees reject her, they’ll try to ball around her and kill her. The beekeeper should quickly remove the caged queen before she dies. However, this doesn’t usually happen—a queenless colony is usually more than happy to have a new queen on its hands.
Conclusion
A happy colony of bees is one with a queen, which makes bee removal in Irvine a lot easier. The bees go wherever she goes, so removing a hive of bees and transporting them somewhere safer is usually just a matter of moving the queen bee. The next time you find a hive of bees in your area in Irvine, we implore you to call The Bee Man at (949) 455-0123. We can help remove and relocate them safely to a new home!
