 |
The Wedding Ceremony Is in the Big Sky. |
One week or so after its emergence, between April and June, the queen bee reaches a marriageable age. It changes its meal from jelly to honey, loses weight, and prepares for the mating flight. On a clear day, after walking around restlessly in the beehive, she flies away from the hive. Drones, not only from the same beehive of the queen bee but also from other beehives, gather at a point in the sky where a wedding ceremony will be held.
Strangely, the queen bee and drones do not show any interest in each other in the beehive during mating season. They are not aware of the marriage instinct until they fly away from the beehive.
|
Drones Die after They Have Fulfilled Their Duties. |
Drones are usually idling time away in the hive. They do not eat much, but they have enough honey before the mating flight. Drones sit on the back of the queen bee when they copulate. At that time, the genital organ of the drone is cut by the queen bee. The drone dies right after his wish to be married to the queen bee has been fulfilled.
|
Copulation with the Queen Bee Occurs More Than Once. |
In order to decrease the chance of intermarriage with drones in the same beehive, a queen bee copulates with more than one drone. In the case that not enough spermatozoa was obtained, the queen bee may repeat the mating flight.
|
The Queen Bee Lays Eggs throughout Her Life. |
The job of laying eggs is waiting for the queen bee after the wedding ceremony. A queen bee lays eggs in a room which the worker bees have prepared. At its peak, she lays 1500 to 2000 eggs a day, or 2 to 3 eggs a minute. Queen bees after the mating flight hardly go out, and keep laying eggs every day till death approaches, except during certain periods in the summer and winter.
|
