When does a colony produce a new queen?

A colony produces a new queen when egg-laying capabilities slow down or fail as this condition signals that the existing queen may be losing her reproductive effectiveness. This situation often prompts the colony to initiate the process of requeening. The bees start by selecting a few young larvae and feeding them royal jelly, which leads to the development of new queens.

While other circumstances, such as the queen becoming too old, can also lead to the need for a new queen, it is the immediate concern over diminishing egg production that directly initiates the requeening process. The colony's primary goal is to ensure continued health and productivity, so when the queen's ability to lay eggs sufficiently declines, it becomes critical to replace her with a new queen to maintain the colony's population and resources.