It ain't easy being queen

The queen hasn’t time for gossip or bee-blogging. She is too busy laying eggs. That is her sole job, and one that she alone can do, for the other females in the hive lack working reproductive parts.

Day in, day out, the queen remains in her climate-controlled chamber laying eggs, one or two per minute, maybe 2,500 a day. All the while she is pushed, provisioned and plucked by her retinue of nurses, her bristles kept spotless, her mandibles kept stuffed with the nutritious, high-calorie, egg-enabling delicacy called royal jelly. “I’d say that being queen is the absolute worst job in the hive,” said May R. Berenbaum, a professor of entomology at the University of Illinois. “At least the foragers get out for fresh air and some scenery.”

Link: Queen Bees - In Hive or Castle, Duty Without Power - Natalie Angier - New York Times