- Author: Thomas Tucker
It's early spring and a new queen has just emerged from hibernating over winter. She is searching for a suitable nest site to raise her offspring. Rodent burrows, hollow logs, and above ground manmade structures are likely abodes.
After Selection of a site she will build a wax honeypot for storing nectar. Her first eggs are laid on a brood clump which is a pile of pollen moistened with nectar. When the larvae hatch they feed on the pollen. The queen's time is now divided by incubating the larvae and foraging for food. She also has to defend against other bumble bee queens looking for a nest site
The larvae will spend two weeks feeding. They will then spin a silk cocoon where they will pupate for two weeks and finally emerge as an adult worker. The queen will not leave the colony after this. The workers will forage and tend to future clutches. They also regulate nest temperatures and defend the nest. The colony experiences rapid growth during this period.
During the summer there is a change in the egg laying process. Our queen now produces eggs for new queens and males. She lays unfertile eggs for male bees. It is not understood how fertilized eggs become queens instead of workers. It may be larval diet or pheromones or a combination of the two.
Male bumble bees have simple job assignments. Eating, sleeping, and sex. Males and queens mate just once.
The new queens will spend their time eating to put on fat for the overwintering hibernation. They will each seek out their own site. Some dig into loose dirt and others in compost piles. There they enter torpor.
The old queen, workers, and males all die off. This colony has ended.