Once the queen has found a suitable site, she digs herself an underground chamber and lays her first few eggs, which she rears to adulthood. She won't eat for weeks - not until her first brood of daughter workers are ready to forage for food for her.
The stock of sperm the queen received during the nuptial flight will enable her to lay fertilised eggs for the rest of her lifetime. And she has many egg-laying years ahead of her, often reproducing until a colony is thousands strong (large nests can have more than 20,000 workers).
Once the queen has found a suitable site, she digs herself an underground chamber and lays her first few eggs, which she rears to adulthood. She won't eat for weeks - not until her first brood of daughter workers are ready to forage for food for her.
The stock of sperm the queen received during the nuptial flight will enable her to lay fertilised eggs for the rest of her lifetime. And she has many egg-laying years ahead of her, often reproducing until a colony is thousands strong (large nests can have more than 20,000 workers).
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