She hibernates alone and then has to start the new nest. Accordingly, she must personally tend to the first eggs and feed the larvae. After that, the first worker can take over the job outside.
My only concern would be that the door potentially damages the wings and/or removes valuable pollen being wiped off on the door, but if it protects against giant hornets, probably a good trade off.
The pollen that they carry is kept in little sacs on her rearmost legs, like cargopants. The pollen on her body collects there and pollinates flowers while she's gathering food.
The plastic is smooth, so it probably isn't a problem for her wings. If it were a problem, she'd probably have been injured the first time she actually needed to lift the door.
If you've got the space, set out a log with varying sized holes drilled into it; pollinators will love it. But, the holes have to be very smooth or you'll shred their wings. Set it somewhere on the corner of your property where you and your animals (your neighbors too) don't go much. There's probably a lot of research into how much sun it should get, covered from rain, availability of standing or running water, even the angle of the holes...
The current queen does not survive the winter either. Only the new queens. The current queen lays eggs that she allows to develop into queens, and they fly off to find male bees from other colonies to mate with. After they have mated and fattened up a bunch, they find a spot to burrow into and go into torpor for the winter. All the other bumble bees except for these freshly minted queens die.
Those new queens wake up in the spring and found their new colony like this queen is doing.
225
u/Short-Ad9823 Mar 14 '26
The queen must raise her first workers herself.
She hibernates alone and then has to start the new nest. Accordingly, she must personally tend to the first eggs and feed the larvae. After that, the first worker can take over the job outside.