Lesson 42: A Good Queen
Judging your queen by her work
The queen is the most important individual in a colony. She's the only bee that can lay the eggs for the tens of thousands of workers a strong colony needs. A colony is only as good as its queen, so learning to judge her is one of the most valuable skills you'll build. And you judge her mostly by her brood, not her looks.
Signs of a good queen
1. A solid brood pattern. A good queen lays in a solid pattern with few skipped cells, spreading out from the center of the frame. Brood of the same age sits together, so the comb looks solid with capped brood, with just a few open cells holding eggs, larvae, nectar or pollen. A few empty cells here and there is still "good."
2. Lots of brood. In the active season, a good queen keeps several frames full of brood. When buying a colony, one guide looks for at least five or six combs of brood (lesson 28). She should be filling frames, not leaving small patches.
3. One egg per cell, at the bottom. A good queen cements a single egg to the bottom of each cell, in an orderly pattern (lesson 36).
4. All stages present. Eggs, young larvae, older larvae and capped brood, all in the brood nest, mean steady, continuous laying.
5. Worker brood in worker cells. Drone brood belongs in patches of larger drone cells. A queen laying drone brood scattered through worker brood is failing (lesson 44).
6. A strong, growing, calm colony. Good queens produce big colonies. Her strong pheromones help keep the colony organized, foraging hard, and less likely to swarm (lesson 11).
How it looks:
A good queen's work: a solid sheet of capped worker brood.
Brood in the middle, food around it: the pattern of a healthy queen.
Warning signs
- A spotty, scattered pattern, with cells of different ages mixed together and many empty cells (lesson 34).
- Less brood than her neighbors, or brood production dropping.
- Drone brood scattered in worker cells.
- More than one egg per cell (a newly mated queen may do this briefly; lesson 44).
- Supersedure cells appearing: the workers think she's failing (lesson 37).
Spotty brood isn't always the queen's fault. It can also come from disease (foulbrood, chalkbrood, parasitic mite syndrome), varroa mites, chilled brood after cold nights, occasionally pesticides, or inbreeding. Check for disease before blaming the queen (lessons 58–67). One clue from Purdue Extension: if only one colony shows the problem, the queen is the more likely cause; if several colonies show it at once, something is killing brood in all of them.
Queens age
A queen can live several years, but her laying usually declines after her first year or two. Young queens lay more eggs, give off more pheromone, and are less likely to swarm or be superseded.
That's why beekeepers disagree about when to replace a queen: - Some replace a queen only when she's failing or lost. - Others requeen every year so they always have young queens. - Commercial beekeepers may requeen even more often.
Lesson 45 covers requeening. Either way, keep records of each queen's age and performance (lesson 41).
What to remember
- Judge a queen by her brood: solid pattern, lots of brood, one egg per cell, all stages present.
- Warning signs: spotty or shrinking brood, scattered drone brood, multiple eggs per cell, supersedure cells.
- Rule out disease before blaming the queen; one colony vs. many is a clue.
- Queens decline after a year or two; beekeepers differ on requeening yearly vs. when failing.
Quick check
- What does a good queen's brood pattern look like?
- Spotty brood shows up in all four of your hives at once. Is a bad queen the likely cause?
- Why do young queens tend to make better colonies?
Show answers
1. Solid, with few skipped cells, spreading out from the center, brood of the same age together. 2. Less likely; when several colonies show it, something is probably killing brood (disease, mites, cold, pesticides). 3. They lay more eggs, give off more pheromone, and are less likely to swarm or be superseded.
Adapted from: UGA Bee Program, Honey Bee Disorders: Non-infectious Diseases and Pests (spotty brood) and Getting Started: Buying and Moving Colonies; Delaplane, K. S., Honey Bees and Beekeeping (UGA Extension Bulletin 1045, rev. 2017); Penn State Extension, An Introduction to Queen Honey Bee Development (Anton & Grozinger, updated 2025); Purdue Extension, Advanced Beekeeping (4-H-1059-W); UF/IFAS Extension, Welcome to the Apiary! (4H446) and Overwintering Honey Bee Colonies (IN1006).
Photos: capped brood and brood nest, Einebillion, CC BY 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).
Adapted from university Extension sources. Experienced Georgia beekeepers are reviewing these lessons. See something that doesn't match your experience? Tell us.