The queen's role: not a command, but a mission
In the fascinating world of Sardinian beekeeping, the queen bee is the most extraordinary member of the hive. Contrary to what the name might suggest, the queen does not exert any control over the colony: her sole — and fundamental — role is that of reproducer. Every day she lays a number of eggs equal to her body weight, constantly cared for by young worker bees who feed her and attend to her every need.
Fertilization and nuptial flight
When born, the virgin queen must be fertilized before she can lay eggs destined to produce new female workers. One or two days after birth, she leaves the hive and reaches a drone congregation area — the males of the colony — where mating occurs. From that moment on, the queen will be fertilized for life and will never need to mate again.
The swarm: when the colony divides
Have you ever seen a large swarm of bees take flight and settle on a tree or wall? It is a common sight in the countryside around Villasimius and southern Sardinia, especially in spring. This is a natural swarm: the way a colony reproduces.
The queen leaves the hive with about half of the population — a representative sample of all bees — and moves until she finds a new place to build a nest. The bees left without a queen must produce a new one as quickly as possible.
How a new queen is born: the power of royal jelly
Bees quickly build five or more queen cells, larger than normal cells, suitable for housing the elongated body of the future queen. The chosen larvae are fed exclusively with royal jelly throughout their lives — and it is this extraordinary food that transforms them into queens instead of mere workers.
The egg from which the queen is born is identical to that of the workers. It is the royal jelly — a milky, viscous substance secreted by the cephalic glands of nurse bees — that determines her destiny, making her larger, with a significantly longer abdomen and exceptional longevity.
Royal jelly feeds all larvae for the first three days of life. Only those destined to become queens continue to receive it until birth.
The fight for the throne
Only the first queen to be born can become the sovereign of the hive. As soon as she emerges from her cell, she immediately searches for the other queen cells and stings the unborn queens to death. If two queens were to hatch simultaneously, they would face each other in a mortal duel from which only one would emerge alive. This is how nature guarantees strength and vitality to the colony.
Longevity and productivity
The queen can live up to five years, during which she can lay over a million eggs. If she chooses not to fertilize an egg, a fertile drone — a male — will hatch from it. Since the swarm reproduces regularly during the summer, drones must always be present in the hive, ready to fertilize any new queens.
Discover the products of our artisan beekeeping in Villasimius: monofloral honeys, fresh royal jelly and much more. From our hive directly to your table — with full respect for bees and the land of Sardinia.
