The queen bee is the only female colony member that normally lays fertilized eggs in a honey-bee colony.
A queen is a reproductive female that develops from a female larva selected by worker bees and fed a special diet. She mates with drones during mating flights, stores sperm, and can use that sperm to fertilize eggs over much of her life.
Fertilized eggs develop into females, which may become workers or new queens. Unfertilized eggs develop into males, called drones. This system is a defining feature of honey-bee reproduction.
Worker bees are also female, but they normally have nonfunctional reproductive organs and perform tasks such as nursing larvae, cleaning, foraging, and temperature control. A colony usually has one active queen, although temporary multiple-queen situations can occur during colony replacement.