Program Information

Every honeybee hive has a queen bee. It is her job to lay all the eggs that will develop into the worker bees. The workers feed the young bees and collect the nectar that will be turned into honey.

ABCs of Agriculture informs about Virginia's farming community and how it affects you. ABCs of Agriculture are produced by the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) - an educational program which encourages and enhances agricultural literacy in Grades K-5 and 6-8.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the ABC’s of Agriculture! We’re here today to talk about the letter Q which stands for queen bee!

Did you know that every honeybee hive has a queen bee? It is her job to lay all the eggs that will develop into the worker bees. The workers feed the young bees and collect the nectar that will be turned into honey.

The queen is the only fertile female within a honeybee colony and is responsible for maintaining a strong population of worker bees in the hive. Although often referred to as the ‘mother of the colony’, she is not responsible in any way for the care of her offspring. In fact, she is physically unable to do so.

The queen is the largest of the bees. This royal bee lays up to 200 thousand eggs a year! The only time a queen bee leaves the hive is to lead a swarm!

Besides being the “mother bee” the queen bee also keeps the worker bees active and under control. If a hive doesn’t have a queen bee the colony will lose its vitality and direction. The queen bee life expectancy can vary…but, many can survive as long as four years….

In Virginia over six thousand bee colonies produced honey in 2003… 222 thousand pounds of honey were harvested that year and generated 375 thousand dollars in cash receipts for the state. Now that’s sweet!

For the ABC’s of Agriculture, I’m Professor Brad… see you next time!

Virginia Standards