Queen of the Hive

If you want to find the Queen of England, you go to Buckingham Palace, but if you want to find the Queen of the Hive, it's a bit more difficult. With thousands of bees in your hive, identifying the Queen can be a daunting experience. It's not impossible, however, if you know where to look.

To continue the Queen of England analogy a bit further, just as the Queen is always surrounded by her Royal Guard as she travels around England, so is the Hive Queen surrounded by her entourage as she travels around her realm. If you look at the mass of bees moving inside the hive, you will see that there is no recognizable pattern to their movements. That is until you find the Queen and her court. At that point, you will see a circle of bees, with heads pointed inward toward the Queen who occupies the center of the circle.

The bees in this circle, when viewed from a distance, will look almost like the spokes of the Queen of England's royal carriage wheels. This pattern is universal in bees and is one of the only sure ways to locate the Queen. As the Queen moves from cell to cell within the hive, the "wheel" moves with her. They never vary this pattern, and while the rest of the hive appears to be moving randomly, the Queen and her court will move in unison.

Once the "wheel" is located, you can now identify the Queen. First, look toward the center of the pattern. The Queen will occupy this position and will be longer through the abdomen than the other bees and lighter in color. The banding on her body is usually lighter and less distinct than the other's as well. It is important to remember, however, that these are subtle differences and it takes experience and an good eye for detail to learn to make this identification quickly.

As a final note, some readers might wonder why locate the Queen in the first place. Aside from the obvious knowledge gained by getting to know your hive from the inside out, there may come a time when you would want to replace a defective or infertile Queen. In order to do this, you must be able to identify the old Queen. Looking for the "wheel" and her royal guard will make your task easier and more accurate.

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