Glossary

A queen is a female bee with a fully developed reproductive system. She is generally mother to all the bees in the colony; indeed, there is typically no more than one queen in a colony at a time.

A queen bank is a colony used to temporarily store mated queens before they are inserted into permanent colonies or shipped.

Queen cells have female eggs laid in them that are intended to develop into queens. They may be supersedure cells or emergency queen cells. See also queen cup.

Queen cups are cells built by worker bees for raising brood to become queens. They are present in the nest at most times, but are most abundant during the spring swarm season. They tend to be located toward the bottom of frames/comb and oriented downward. They are called queen cells once eggs have been laid in them.

A queen mother colony is the colony that contains the breeder queen that will be used to rear additional queens. The queen mother colony is usually chosen based on specific criteria.

Queen pheromone is the name for the complete blend of pheromones secreted by the queen. It is comprised of nine different components that are released from several different glands on her body, including the mandibular gland. This complex of pheromones attracts drones during mating flights and attracts workers to surround and tend to the queen. It is spread around the colony; workers react quickly to its absence or decline.

A queenright colony is one that has a laying queen.