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When I hear people describe someone as a “queen bee” they are often talking about one who is in charge. In their minds, she is outspoken, powerful, and commanding.
It may surprise you, but in actuality, a queen bee is none of those things.
She is a leader, but the quiet, dutiful, type that brings peace and order to her colony.
In a typical hive there are tens of thousands of female worker bees, a few hundred drones (male bees), and one single queen. Each bee has its own job to do and place in their society. The workers busy themselves with gathering and storing food, keeping the hive tidy, caring for the young, making honey, and defending their fortress. The drones venture out to mate with queens from other hives and the queen is tasked with laying eggs.
You would think that this monarchy would be difficult to maintain with so many subjects with diverse goals, but the queen bee rules with pheromones (chemical communication signals) and not an iron fist.
1. The Queen Bee has a Calming Presence
The queen bee does not incite fear in her followers. Instead, her presence calms the hive and allows each individual to focus on their work. She gives the colony, which is really her family, a sense of safety and belonging.
In her absence, either through death or swarming, the colony will be in a state of urgent chaos until her replacement is reared, mated, and able to unite the group with her own reassuring chemical signature.
2. The Queen Bee Focuses on the Future
The queen is the only bee that lives for several years and therefore sees the big picture. The workers usually live no longer than six weeks while the hive is in a productive state (in the winter they live up to six months, but are largely inactive). Meanwhile, drones live 7-8 weeks in the spring/ summer and all die off before the next season starts.
The queen is the bee that is there for the long run, and as the only bee with reproductive potential, she ensures that there is something worthwhile to pass on to the next generations. She doesn’t dwell in the past, or let the ups and downs of daily life impact her productivity, she focuses on the future.
3. The Queen Bee Doesn’t Abuse Her Power
The queen bee innately knows that she was chosen, she did not become queen on her own accord. She did not overtake, she was raised. Her egg cell was carefully built, and as a larva, she was fed a special diet of royal jelly, unlike all of the other developing bees.
As such, she does not abuse her power. She represents her colony and performs her queenly duties with diligence, with the knowledge that if she is ineffective, she will be replaced by the colony. The queen recognizes both her strengths and limitations and does her best, each day, for the time of her reign.
4. The Queen Bee is Industrious
It’s true that the queen bee has an entourage. She has workers that follow her around, everywhere she goes, and they feed her, groom her, and take care of her waste. But this kind of service is not for a queen sitting idly on her throne, but rather for a hard-working and industrious leader.
The queen bee has the unique and important job of laying eggs. She stays very busy with this job, laying over 1,000 eggs a day. Her leadership style is participative and she contributes greatly to the overall success, or failure, of the colony itself.
5. The Queen Bee Doesn’t Seek Attention
You won’t find the queen bee scoping out new hive locations, dining on the finest nectar straight from the flower, or getting up in your face during a hive inspection. On the contrary, she is likely to be deep in the hive, back in the shadows. In fact, you will need a trained eye and a bit of luck in order to ever catch a glimpse of the queen bee.
After her initial mating flight, the queen bee usually does not leave the hive. Her work is significant, but she does not seek attention and recognition for it. She is content to stay behind the scenes, with only the ones closest to her really knowing her challenges and triumphs.
Maybe now you know a little more about bees and can have a better appreciation for the work that they do and how they do it. While being a queen bee may not be as glamourous as you once thought, her example of leadership is still one to emulate.
Mother, farmer, author, and teacher by trade… She loves tending to things and watching them grow!