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Queen Mandibular Protein, or QMP, is a honey bee pheromone produced by the queen and fed to her attendants who share it with the rest of the colony that gives the colony the sense of being queenright. Chemically QMP is very diverse with at least 17 major components and other minor ones. 5 of these compounds are: 9-ox-2-decenoic acid (9ODA) + cis & trans 9 hydroxydec-2-enoic acid (9HDA) + methyl-p-hydroxybenzoate (HOB) and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylethanol (HVA). Newly emerged queens produce very little of this. By the sixth day they are producing enough to attract drones for mating. A laying queen makes twice that amount. QMP is responsible for inhibition of rearing replacement queens, attraction of drones for mating, stabilizing and organizing a swarm around the queen, attracting a retinue of attendants, stimulating foraging and brood rearing, and the general moral of the colony. Lack of it also seems to attract robber bees.
