Last month, TikTok beekeeper Elisha Bixler offered a terrifying glimpse at what happens when a colony of bees decides to dethrone their queen, an act of mutiny known as "queen balling."
“This is one of the most brutal things I have seen in the beekeeping world, it’s called queen balling,” Bixler explained, a mass of bees stationed in the palm of her hand.
“This is when honeybees make the decision to kill a queen because she is not laying eggs any longer or is an impostor from another hive,” she added, noting that this process is done by “forming a tight ball around the queen and vibrating their wings to turn up their body temperature that will inevitably suffocate her,” adding swings and bites along the way for good measure.
Fortunately, this saga of bee mutiny has a happy ending. After detailing her efforts in rescuing the queen from her angry subjects – “I gently rolled the bees around with my fingers, slowly pulling away the honey bees,” Bixler said – she was able to rescue the fallen monarch.
“After I saved the queen from the balling bees, I found a new hive that needed a queen,” Bixler explained, noting the measures she took to ensure the hive’s introduction to their new leader was as sweet as honey. “After a few days, I released her and all the bees welcomed their new mom.”
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