Is worker policing relaxed in honeybee families that experience a queenless period?

In honeybee colonies, the natural way of dividing an ever-expanding colony occurs through swarming.This phenomenon and the resulting temporary absence of the queen influence various colony parameters, such as changes in the development strategy of the larvae. In this study, we investigate whether families that have experienced a queenless period exhibit differences in their subsequent worker policing tenden- cies when compared to normal colonies. We analyse the removal rate of queen-laid and worker-laid male eggs in colonies that were temporarily orphaned and those with a constant queen presence. Our findings reveal inconsistent patterns across replications regarding the egg policing in colonies that experienced a queenless period. While the pooled data suggests that both types of eggs are policed slower in colonies that are temporarily orphaned, the analysis of individual replications reveals contradictory results – with this effect being strong in one replication, absent in the second and reversed in the third. Therefore, the rate of worker policing appears to be determined by colony-specific characteristics or other environmental factors, rather than by the temporary absence of the queen.