Why Honeybees Sometimes Turn Against Their Queen

Cameron Duke of MinuteEarth, who previously explained why there are queen bees but no king bees, talked about the specific circumstances in which the hive will turn against their queen, either by leaving her or killing her outright. In honeybees, this happens when the queen is no longer laying eggs. The female worker bees will choose one of their sisters to replace the queen, forcing the queen to defend her throne.

In order to keep her crown, the  old queen has to constantly find and kill these queens-to-be before they grow up. And if one does, two things can happen. The workers might gang up on the old queen  and assassinate her –Julius Caesar style– or, the hive might fragment, with  a ton of workers swearing fealty to their new sister-queen and flying  off to start a new hive with her.