It's difficult to tell queen age. New virgin queens normally do not have an enlarged abdomenabdomen:
the segmented, posterior (third) part of the bee body that contains heart, honey, stomach, intestines, Malphigian tubules, reproductive organs, and sting
and are likely to be very mobile and frequently without a well-defined worker queen retinue.
A virgin or unmated queen is a newly emerged adult queen honey bee. Compared to mature mated queens, virgins will be smaller, stubby, have shorter, thinner abdomens, and are sometimes not much larger than workers. They are often difficult to spot, as they move more rapidly than a mature queen and may lack a queen retinue.
Colonies with virgin queens will sometimes be loud (queenless roar), defensive, with workers very actively or nervously moving when the hive is opened; hives in this state are more difficult to manage. These changes are due to less brood and to virgin queens not producing the same blend of queen substance pheromonepheromone:
a chemical substance released externally by an individual (from an exocrine gland) which stimulates a response in a second individual of the same species
, two stabilizing effects for a colony.
Following queen events (e.g., swarming, rearing of emergency queen cells), colonies may have more than one virgin queen. Multiple emerged virgin queens will engage in queen fighting until one survives. A virgin queen will chew holes in the sides of developing queen cells that have not yet emerged as adults to mark them for removal by workers.
Virgin queens mate with a dozen or more (up to 60) drones. The mating occurs outside colonies, in drone congregation areas within the first three weeks of adult queen existence. Following this, she is called a mated queen. Before a newly mated queen becomes established, brood nests are likely to be uneven and spotty in appearance. A newly mated queen may initially lay multiple eggs per cell. These cells can be distinguished from the cells made by laying workers as the queen cells are not as numerous, nor do these cells have as many eggs as occurs with laying workers.
improperly mated queen, queen shut down, swarming (when queen loses weight to leave with a swarm)
“Beekeeping Life Of A Virgin Queen”. YouTube, uploaded by David Burns, 11 June 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StDYEt6Voik
Anton K and Grozinger C. 2020. An Introduction to Queen Honey Bee Development. PennState Extension. Accessed 2023. https://extension.psu.edu/an-introduction-to-queen-honey-bee-development
“How to tell fast if virgin queen is mated yet”. YouTube, uploaded by BARNYARD BEES, 21 April 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XynZm9iNT_Y
