 In a young colony , the queen minimises reproductive competition from workers by suppressing their egg @-@ laying through physical aggression and pheromones . Worker policing leads to nearly all eggs laid by workers being eaten . Thus , the queen is usually the mother of all of the first males laid . Workers eventually begin to lay male eggs later in the season when the queen 's ability to suppress their reproduction diminishes . Because of the reproductive competition between workers and the queen , bumblebees are considered " primitively eusocial " . 
