08/23/2024
The surviving queen chooses an ideal location in early spring, builds a little nest, and starts raising sterile daughter offspring. While the queen's only job is to lay eggs, these daughters take care of expanding and maintaining the nest, gathering food, and tending to the young. A mature colony will consist of the queen, two to four thousand infertile female workers, brood (the eggs, larvae, and pupae), and, later in the summer, males and reproductive females.
