How do bees reproduce their own kind?

Answer 1

Bees come in three types:-

1. Drones (sexually mature male bees)
2. Queens (sexually mature female bees) - (there is only one Queen in a nest)
3. Workers (sexually immature female bees)

A Queen, after hatching, goes on a mating flight and copulates with a Drone during this flight. She then stores the sperm from this flight for the rest of her life.

The Queen then returns to the nest and starts laying eggs. To make Drones she lays unfertilised eggs. To make Workers she lays fertilised eggs.

The workers feed and care for the eggs and larva and also gather food for the colony.

If the nest is becoming crowded or the Queen dies, the workers feed one of the eggs with special rich food (called "royal jelly"), this causes it to develop into a new Queen.

Answer 2

The Queen bee (and only the Queen) mates with a male bee (called a drone) only one time. She then lays eggs that are tended by worker bees that grow to become more bees.