Queen Bee Lays 2,000 Eggs Per Day, Still Called 'Lazy' By Beekeeper Forum

A queen bee producing approximately 2,000 eggs daily — a rate that would hospitalize any vertebrate — has been publicly criticized on a popular beekeeping forum for insufficient output. The controversy erupted when user @HiveMinds2019 posted a photo of a brood frame from his second-year colony, noting that the laying pattern "seems a bit spotty" and asking whether he should "consider requeening." Within hours, fourteen forum members had weighed in, with assessments ranging from "she's clearly past her prime" to "that pattern is borderline criminal" to "I'd requeen yesterday." The queen in question, who has no forum account and communicates exclusively through pheromones, could not be reached for comment. However, her output of roughly 2,000 eggs per day represents approximately 1.5 times her own body weight in reproductive labor every 24 hours. "If a human produced 1.5 times their body weight in anything per day, they would be hospitalized and studied," noted Dr. Francine Bumble, an entomologist at UC Davis. "This queen is being told she needs to try harder by people who consider making a sandwich an accomplishment." The forum thread has since grown to 847 replies, with several users posting photos of their own queens' laying patterns in what has devolved into competitive brood evaluation. One user was temporarily banned for calling another's queen "adequate at best." The original poster has since requeened his colony. The new queen's laying pattern has been described by the forum as "promising but we'll see."