If you were a honey bee queen, you'd be laying eggs all day on Mother's Day (not to mention the other days!).
You'd be the mother of all the bees in the hive.
During the peak season, the queen can lay up to 1500 to 2000 eggs a day. That can amount to about 50,000 to 80,000 workers (sterile females) and 1000 to 2000 drones (males) in the hive.
In his book, The Honey Bee Hobbyist, the Care and Keeping of Bees, Norman "Norm" Gary, UC Davis emeritus professor of apiculture, writes: "All bees in a colony develop from eggs laid by the queen, so they all share the same mother. All bees in a colony develop from eggs laid by the queen, so they all share the same mother. But as a population, they typically have around 15 fathers."
As Gary points out: "The queen bee has no control over the drones that inseminate her. (The virgin queen) mates while flying, never inside the hive."
It's a matriarchal society. The girls (worker bees) do all the work; they serve as nurse maids, nannies, royal attendants, builders, architects, foragers, dancers, honey tenders, pollen packers, propolis or "glue" specialists, air conditioning and heating technicians, guards, and undertakers. So their abbreviated life (during the summer the life span of a worker bee is only four to six weeks) is not surprising. The drones, or males, serve only a reproductive function. Once they they mate, they die.
If you're interested in bees and beekeeping, want to take classes, or just curious about these amazing superorganisms, check out the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP), founded and directed by bee scientist Elina Lastro Niño, professor of UC Cooperative Extension, Apiculture, and a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty. Co-program managers of CAMBP are Wendy Mather and Kian Nikzad.
Here are some links to draw you in:
CAMBP Socials
Website https://cambp.ucdavis.edu/
Instagram https://instagram.com/californiamasterbeekeeper/
Facebook https://facebook.com/UCCAMBP
LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/company/uc-california-master-beekeeper-program
Twitter https://twitter.com/uccambp
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/uccambp
Happy Mother's Day (and every day!)
