Why Hives Turn Against Their Queens

Опубликовано 22 января 2026, 18:05

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A honeybee hive might seem like a peaceful utopia, but in reality, it’s buzzing with internal conflict between warring factions. And the biggest conflict is between the queen and the worker bees.

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Haplodiploidy: is a sex-determination system in which males develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid, and females develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid.
- Sex determination in honeybees: In honeybees, the drones (males) are entirely derived from the queen, their mother. The diploid queen has 32 chromosomes and the haploid drones have 16 chromosomes. Drones produce sperm cells that contain their entire genome, so the sperm are all genetically identical except for mutations.
- Eusocial: showing an advanced level of social organization, in which a single female or caste produces offspring and nonreproductive individuals cooperate in caring for the young.
- Fertilize: cause (an egg, female animal, or plant) to develop a new individual by introducing male reproductive material.
- Genetics: the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics.
- Queen Bee: the single reproductive female in a hive or colony of honeybees.
- Sterile: not able to produce children or young.

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Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
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REFERENCES
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BESHERS, S.N., et al. “Social Inhibition and the Regulation of Temporal Polyethism in Honey Bees.” Journal of Theoretical Biology, vol. 213, no. 3, Dec. 2001, pp. 461–479, doi.org/10.1006/jtbi.2001.2427

Flanders, Stanley E. “Caste in the Honey Bee.” Insectes Sociaux, vol. 7, no. 1, Mar. 1960, pp. 9–16, doi.org/10.1007/bf02225754

Page, Robert E., and Robert A. Metcalf. “A Population Investment Sex Ratio for the Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera L.).” The American Naturalist, vol. 124, no. 5, Nov. 1984, pp. 680–702, doi.org/10.1086/284306

Prendergast, Kit, et al. “Introduced Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera) Potentially Reduce Fitness of Cavity-Nesting Native Bees through a Male-Bias Sex Ratio, Brood Mortality and Reduced Reproduction.” Frontiers in Bee Science, vol. 3, 20 May 2025, doi.org/10.3389/frbee.2025.150...

Remolina, Silvia C., and Kimberly A. Hughes. “Evolution and Mechanisms of Long Life and High Fertility in Queen Honey Bees.” AGE, vol. 30, no. 2-3, 22 June 2008, pp. 177–185, doi.org/10.1007/s11357-008-906...

Smith, Adam R., et al. “A Split Sex Ratio in Solitary and Social Nests of a Facultatively Social Bee.” Biology Letters, vol. 15, no. 4, Apr. 2019, p. 20180740, doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0740...

Sundström, Liselotte. “Sex Ratio Bias, Relatedness Asymmetry and Queen Mating Frequency in Ants.” Nature, vol. 367, no. 6460, Jan. 1994, pp. 266–268, doi.org/10.1038/367266a0

Trivers, R. L., and H. Hare. “Haploidploidy and the Evolution of the Social Insect.” Science (New York, N.Y.), vol. 191, no. 4224, 23 Jan. 1976, pp. 249–263, doi.org/10.1126/science.110819...