the Queen of Bluebell.
Every hive needs a queen, ours has Cleo. She is the heart of our colony and the biggest bee in the hive. She is also the longest living bee in the colony, and if all goes well she will be with us for 3-5 years.
Her main role is laying eggs, lots and lots of eggs, up to 1500 a day to keep her colony strong. As the queen you might think she has all the power, but actually she doesn’t have that much power. Her hive is a democratic system influenced by the worker bees. They will decide when Cleo needs replacing, and they will do it. She does, however, set the tone and temperament of her hive through her pheromones. These also let her colony know how healthy she is. When the pheromone levels fall it can be the signal that a new queen is needed.
One of the first things you learn on the beekeeping course is that a queen-less hive is a grumpy hive!
Cleo, circled here in blue, was born in 2021. She is unclipped and marked with a white dot to help me find her. Trying to locate one bee in the colony of 60,000 is blooming hard so a quick dot can make all the difference.
She came from a fellow bee-keepers colony when he split and overwintered them. He marked her for me and has done a brilliant job, it is easy to spot her! Well it is at the moment with a small starter colony.
Why a white dot?
Good question, it is all to do with when a queen bee is born and helps you to age her. There is a colour system consisting of White, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue. Queens born in a year ending 1 and 6 are dabbed with a White dot; ending 2 and 7 are Yellow; ending 3 and 8 are Red; 4 and 9 dabbed Green; and finally 5 and 0 are Blue. Therefore, Cleo born in 2021 gets a white dot
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