On an isolated island in the Pacific, in a hot lava rock field surrounded by coffee trees, in a colorful box buzzing with life—a queen is born. She emerges from her golden cell, a royal nursery built just for raising queens. For the past 16 days, nurse bees have been caring for her closely, feeding her a special elixir called royal jelly.
She grows from larva to queen and chews her way out of her wax cell and into a hive buzzing with thousands of honeybee sisters. Her long, fuzzy body emerges, and she peers around, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of her new home.
In a honeybee colony, only one queen can lead.
The young queen steps outside the hive and into the hot Kona sun. She is ready for the flight of a lifetime. She will become a queen mother at the center of a growing colony. She spreads her wings and flies high above Kona's coffee farms, pungent mango trees and sparkling coastline.
This is the beginning of her life's work.
When she returns home, she is forever changed. Turned from sister to mother, she will lead this colony to success, raising new bees to run the hive. In her lifetime, one queen can bring more than a million bees into the world. Enough to fill countless flowers, orchards and fields with life.
The queen is the center of the family. Each day she lays eggs, building and expanding the colony. Her royal court of daughters surrounds her, tending to her every need.
Worker bees are the queen’s daughters, and each one has an important job based on age. The youngest are the "house bees" who spend the first days of their lives cleaning and preparing the cells for new larvae. The “nurse bees” feed and tend the growing pupae. Next, “builder bees” make beautiful and remarkably symmetrical new comb, always following the natural rule of “bee space.” Guard bees stand watch at the door to keep out intruders and track what the hive needs, passing along the shopping list to their foraging sisters.
The eldest sisters are the foragers and scouts. They fly across the Kona landscape in search of nectar and pollen. They can fly several miles from home, digging into macadamia blossoms and searching the ʻōhiʻa forests for the lehua bloom. When they find nectar and pollen, they return with a message: "I found food; let’s bring it home!”
They share this message with their own special hula dance, shaking and swaying their hips in small circles—ʻuwehe, ʻami and slide! This dance communicates exact directions to the flower, sending their sisters in a straight "bee line" to the nectar source.
And we cannot forget about the drones. While male bees make up less than 10 percent of the hive, they have an important job too—helping carry their family's story forward by sharing their genetics with other colonies.
In this busy family, everyone does their job. They work together in perfect harmony to create a healthy and thriving home. Honeybees are one of nature's most remarkable communities.
One day, this tiny queen will travel across the vast sea to a distant continent. Queen bees from Kona are known for being strong, healthy and calm, making them valued by beekeepers around the world.
The queen bee in our story has a greater duty, extending beyond the hive and outside her island home. She will help farmers grow crops that feed millions. This queen was selected to support the almond growers in California—one of many crops that depend on honeybees to produce their harvest each year.
When she is ready, the queen is placed carefully into a small travel cage and joined with other queen cages in a buzzing box. She travels by airplane, sometimes even in the cargo hold of a commercial flight, alongside the luggage of mainland passengers.
She flies across the ocean and is introduced into a new hive in California, where thousands of bees are ready and waiting to get to work. Everyone knows their role—laying eggs, raising baby bees and foraging for nectar among the blossoming almond trees.
Her worker bees will fly through the almond orchards in bloom, carrying pollen from tree to tree. Without honeybee pollination, these orchards cannot produce their harvest. Our tiny queen is an important part of a larger story. Honeybees are the reason we get to eat our favorite foods—the sweet fruits, crunchy nuts and crisp vegetables. Our tiny queen from Kona is putting dinner on the table for families all across North America.
So the next time you spot a honeybee in your garden or see a rumbling bee truck on a winding island road, remember that some of the world's most important queens begin life right here in Kona.
Small enough to sleep in a flower. Important enough to help feed the world.
Over the past year, Leandra Rouse, the daughter of Gus Rouse, a retired Queen Bee producer from Kona, documented Kona's agricultural history by gathering oral histories, producing a 10-minute documentary, and developing an interactive museum exhibit hosted in partnership with the Kona Historical Society. HistoryOfKonaBeekeeping.com.