ROYAL JELLY

It’s not a triffle. It may surprise you that every young bee is fed ‘Queen Jelly’, (a secretion produced in the hypopharynx in the lower jaw of nurse bees) , for the first three days after they hatch. At that point, they all look identical. After day three though, feeding of all but a chosen few switches to ‘bee bread’, a mixture of dilute honey and pollen.

An exception is made for the next generation of Queens, who are fed exclusively on ‘Queen Jelly’ throughout their maturation. This different feeding pattern, produces a wildly different phonotype or body shape and capacities.

‘Royal Jelly’ is, of course, considered as a “superfood” when harvested for humans, although this claim is not substantiated. Fed to bees it certainly is a super food source providing (60–70% w/w) water, (9–18% w/w) proteins, (7–18% w/w) sugars, and (3–8% w/w) lipids. It contains most things a growing bee needs, at first, and everything essential for the making of a new Queen.