Ronald Spitzer, age 11, of Nogales, Arizona, for his question:

How long does queen honeybee live?

During the busy summer season, a little worker bee may wear herself to death after about six weeks. But the hive teems with worker bees and others are ready to take over her duties. The queen bee, however, is a special personage. She, and only she, lays the eggs and she is the queen mother of the family colony. When other young queens hatch from the eggs, they fight as rivals. A queen bee uses her thorny sting only on another royal queen and often a young queen is slain before she is one day old.

The surviving queen goes off with a    swarm of followers to establish her own hive where she reigns supreme. When summer ends, the drones are expelled and most of the workers perish. The queen and a group of faithful workers huddle together and wait out the winter on short rations. After five busy summers and rough winters, the queen begins to age. She may be killed next summer by a strong, young queen bee. Or she may live on as queen of the hive for six or even seven years.