Queen cell

The queen cell is a special type of cell within the honey bee hive. The queen cell is raised away from the rest of the cells.

The new queens spend their juvenile stages in the cell as they develop from egg to larvae and then pupae. The workers feed the larvae on royal jelly. When the larvae is ready to pupate the workers cap the cell.

A photograph of two queen cells that have been opened to show the queen larvae and royal jelly.
Photograph by Waugsberg licensed under Creative Commons.

Other names for (or types of) Queen cell include:

• Royal cell

Related terms

• Africanised honey bees
• Apiary
• Bee bread
• Castes
• Cerumen
• Drone
• Eusocial
• Honey bee
• Queen
• Queen excluder
• Queen substance
• Royal jelly
• Worker

Related pages on this web site

• Aculeate hymenoptera
• Bees and Beekeeping: From simple bee-ginnings
• Bees, Wasps and Ants - Order Hymenoptera

See other words beginning with Q