How to Identify the Queen Bee
Bees are flying insects that feed on pollen and nectar. There are approximately 400 different species of social bees that live in colonies. In these colonies, most of the members are female bees, which are incapable of reproduction and known as worker bees. A few fertile male bees known as drones live in the colony, and much of the time there is only one queen bee in each colony.
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Instructions
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Locate the home of the bees. Queen bees spend their time constantly laying eggs and are fed and cared for by worker bees. Queen bees rarely leave the hive or nest and are unlikely to be found away from home unless the colony is dividing in two after becoming too large, or if a new queen embarks on a "nuptial flight" to be fertilized by the male drones.
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Look for a bee that is larger than the rest. Common honeybees have workers that measure 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch with drones measuring 5/8 of a inch. The queen will be larger than either of these, measuring 5/8 to 3/4 of an inch in length.
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Look for other bees of the same size. If there are more bees of the same larger size, they are likely drones because there is usually only one queen bee. There is occasionally more than one queen bee if a hive is preparing to split in two when it has outgrown its home. Also, queen bees live for several years, but when they die, several queens will be born to replace her, the strongest of which will kill the others before becoming queen.
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Check for the presence of a stinger. Drones have no stingers, but the queen bee will have a smooth stinger on the end of her abdomen.
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Tips & Warnings
Some beekeepers carefully mark their queen bee with a tiny dot of model car paint on the her thorax. This not only makes the queen easy to identify, but allows the beekeeper to tell if the original queen has been lost.
Use appropriate caution when approaching or handling bees. They will protect their home.
