During spring when breeding is at its height, a queen can lay up to, and even sometimes over, 2000 eggs in a 24-hour period. A queen achieving this kind of performance (laying her own weight in eggs!) is at the head of a strong colony and is fed huge quantities of royal jelly by her numerous workers.
While laying, the queen moves over the combs checking out the cells with her antennae. Even in the comparative darkness of the hive she recognizes the cells prepared for her by the house bees by their characteristic smell. As she lowers her abdomen to lay an egg, she is able to distinguish between the size of the diameter of each cell. When the diameter is larger than the usual worker cell, the queen is programmed to withhold her supply of sperm and the egg remains unfertilized.
The queen secures the colony's unity by secreting a hormone, known as a pheromone, which is continually picked up from her body by the colony as they lick and feed her and is then passed on to other bees during exchanges of food and licking.
The queen bee never leaves the hive except on two specific occasions:

- on her mating flights
- during swarming

Life span

A queen can live for 4 to 5 years, but as a rule a queen's egg-laying declines after her second year of production. Most conscientious beekeepers usually change their queens every two years.

Judging the quality of a queen

A queen's value lies in the general aspect and size of the brood she produces. The brood of a fertile queen is compact and regular whereas the brood of an old or defective queen is spread out and punctuated by empty cells.