PLAN BEE: Making queens with good genetics | News

The queen bee is the “mother” of all the bees in a colony. Harry Laidlaw described the honey bee queen as a key part of a biological kit, and Dr. James Tew, Ohio State University, mentions that “the queen is the spark plug for the colony’s engine.”

Every honey bee colony requires a queen to survive. Some queens may be of poor quality, and the colony does not brood up in the spring to produce enough honey for winter storage. These are situations where the queen needs to be replaced.

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