Long live the queen: Four seasons in a bumble bee colony

Environmental Communications Specialist Brett Peto contributed this story.

A bumble bee queen has a lot resting on her wings. She lives for four seasons.

During that time, she will survive winter, create a colony in spring and lay hundreds of eggs in summer. In autumn, the queen will die; but not before producing new female bees to take up her mantle.

The common eastern bumble bee, rusty patched bumble bee and nine other species live in Lake County. Their features differ. But the annual life cycles of their colonies and queens rhyme.

Spring awakening

In spring, a foundress queen — a bee that will start a brand-new colony — wakes up hungry. She’s lived off fat reserves for months, hibernating under leaf litter, logs or loose soil.

If she chose a well-suited site to overwinter, pollen and nectar should be available from spring ephemeral wildflowers. These plants bloom in early spring before trees sprout leaves in full.

Shaking off drowsiness, the queen visits flowers to eat and replenish her energy. She also finds a safe spot to nest.

“Queens look for protection from the elements,” said Kathryn McCabe, wildlife ecologist at the Lake County Forest Preserves. “Nests have been found below ground in old rodent burrows, at surface level in tufts of grass or under logs, and even in the nooks and crannies of houses.”

Once settled in, the queen builds wax cups and loads them with nectar, pollen and eggs. Vibrations from her flight muscles keep the eggs between 77-90° Fahrenheit.

Larvae — which resemble small, white worms — hatch after 4-6 days. Like caterpillars transforming into butterflies, they develop into fuzzy adults over 4-5 weeks.

Female worker bees make up the first several waves of offspring. Gradually, they assume the duties of foraging and upkeep, while the queen prioritizes laying eggs.

Social summer

Summer is the buzziest time. The queen crafts more wax pots and eggs; the workforce swells. Each new group of larvae has more food to eat and grows stronger.

Most workers spend their 4-6 weeks of life collecting pollen to feed the humming colony. Some workers stay home to guard against predators, remove dead larvae and calibrate the nest’s temperature by fanning their wings.

Depending on species and habitat, the colony’s population climbs to 50-500 bees. Even at peak activity, bumble bees “only sting as a last resort if threatened,” McCabe said.

Autumn departures

If the colony is prosperous by late summer, the foundress queen produces eggs that become new queens and male bees.

Called gynes, the new queens gobble up three times the pollen as other larvae and dwarf their fellow colony members. Multiple gynes offer more chances for successful nests next year. Their priorities: boost body fat for winter and mate with males from other colonies.

Males, or drones, leave the nest when they reach adulthood. Their priorities? Mating with gynes and drinking nectar. Drones sometimes sleep on flowers, their pollen-dusted rear ends poking out.

As the season swivels through autumn, the foundress queen, female workers and wandering drones slowly die off. Now solo, the young gynes select suitable winter hideaways.

“Fertilized females burrow down in loose soil, logs and under leaves,” McCabe said.

Winter rest

Now comes sleep. The gynes slow their metabolism to save energy. Their bodies form glycerol, a natural antifreeze, to prevent damage from the cold.

Soon enough, springtime temperatures and sunshine will wake the foundress-queens-to-be from hibernation.

They’ll face the same tasks that have awaited countless generations. Find flowers to feed on. Search for a place to nest. And create a colony that produces more queens.

• Kim Mikus is media and community relations specialist with the Lake County Forest Preserves. She writes columns about the preserves. Reach her at kmikuscroke@lcfpd.org.

Bee friendly

Bumble bees are fuzzy and cute, for sure. But pollination provided by insects and other animals makes possible one out of every three bites of food we eat.

These ecosystem services are worth tens of billions of dollars per year to U.S. agriculture.

“Bumble bees are particularly effective pollinators for tomatoes, blueberries and peppers,” McCabe said. They also pollinate many native plants.

Each summer, McCabe monitors for bumble bee nests and records data on them in the forest preserves.

“Any nest we find offers good data so we can try to provide suitable nesting habitat.”

Be friendly to bees by planting native wildflowers that bloom throughout the growing season and limiting insecticide use. Submit your bee observations and photos at inaturalist.org.

Voca-bee-lary

• Drone: Male bee. Lacks stinger and pollen basket.

• Foundress queen: Bee that establishes a new nest in spring after overwintering.

• Gyne: New queen born in autumn that will reproduce the next year.

• Worker: Female bee that does not reproduce. Maintains and defends the nest. Gathers food.