The honey bee colony functions as a highly organized collective, often described as a superorganism. The social structure is rigidly defined, with specialized roles for drones, workers, and the single reproductive female. Understanding the dynamics of this organization requires acknowledging the role of the queen as the sole genetic provider for the tens of thousands of members in the hive. The question of how many queens exist in a typical colony is central to grasping the reproductive strategy and social mechanisms that govern this complex insect society.
The Standard Number in a Hive
An established, healthy honey bee colony maintains a condition known as monogyny, meaning it contains only one adult, mated queen at any given time. This single queen is the mother of nearly every bee in the hive, laying thousands of eggs daily during peak season to sustain the massive population. The presence of a solitary, reproductively active female is a mechanism that promotes the efficiency and genetic unity of the entire colony.
Worker bees actively enforce this single-queen rule through a behavior known as “worker policing.” Although worker bees are female, they are generally sterile, but they do have the anatomical potential to lay unfertilized eggs, which would develop into male drones. Worker bees patrol the brood nest, identifying and destroying any worker-laid eggs to ensure that only the queen’s offspring are reared. This policing behavior is particularly intense in the honey bee because workers are genetically more related to the queen’s sons (their brothers) than they would be to the sons of other workers.
The Queen’s Chemical Control Over the Colony
The queen maintains her reproductive dominance and regulates the behavior of her workers primarily through a complex blend of airborne chemicals. The most significant of these compounds is Queen Mandibular Pheromone (QMP), which is produced in her mandibular glands and distributed throughout the hive by her retinue of attending workers. These workers groom the queen and consume the pheromone, passing it to their nestmates through food sharing and antennal contact, effectively signaling the queen’s presence to the entire colony.
The chemical blend of QMP, which includes compounds like 9-oxo-2-decenoic acid (9-ODA), acts as a primer pheromone, directly influencing the physiology of the worker bees. Exposure to QMP suppresses the development of worker ovaries, preventing them from becoming reproductively active and attempting to lay eggs. This chemical suppression ensures the queen’s monopoly on reproduction is maintained.
QMP also functions as a releaser pheromone, affecting immediate worker behavior, such as attracting and maintaining the retinue of bees that feed and care for her. Furthermore, the pheromone plays a regulatory role in colony growth, inhibiting the construction of queen cells under normal conditions and preventing the colony from preparing to swarm. The consistent distribution of this chemical signal acts as a measure of the queen’s vigor and health, assuring the workers that their mother is present and laying eggs successfully. If the queen’s QMP production declines, which often happens with age or illness, the workers recognize this chemical absence and begin the process of raising a replacement.
When Multiple Queens Temporarily Exist
While the single-queen standard is the norm for a stable colony, there are specific, temporary instances where multiple queens may coexist. The most common scenario occurs during the colony’s natural process of reproduction, known as swarming. When a hive becomes overcrowded, the workers raise new queens, and the old queen departs with roughly half of the adult population just as the new queens are due to emerge. For a brief period, the original hive may contain the old queen and several developing queen cells.
Multiple queens can also be present during a process called supersedure, which is the colony’s method for replacing a failing or aging queen. The workers will raise a new queen while the old one is still present and laying a reduced number of eggs. In these cases, the old queen is sometimes tolerated until the new queen has successfully mated and begun laying, leading to a short overlap where two queens may reside in the hive simultaneously. Once the new queen is established, however, the hive quickly reverts to monogyny, either through the peaceful disappearance of the old queen or through a fight to the death between any newly emerged virgin sisters.