How do you tell a queen bumble bee from a worker if there's no worker around to compare size?

Question

Here's my problem: I think a queen bumble bee is digging a hole in my backyard for her nest. I watched her for about five minutes and she kept coming up and going down into the hole. But I can't tell if she's a queen or if it's a worker. I also have cats. And I'm wondering if this is a nest what the heck I should do - I don't want to kill it.
Queen or worker?
Let be or kill?

Answer 1

Of the forty-five species of bumble bees in the U.S., only about four are occasionally aggressive by nature. In contrast to social bees, almost all of our native bees live on their own ("solitary-nesting") and thus have no hive to defend. It is the hive bees defending the home that will swarm out, stinging all and sundry in defense.

Bumble bees are in colonies only seasonally and the only native bee that is social. Queens look for abandoned rodent holes or other suitable openings if they can. Only newly mated queens live over the winter and only pregnant queens make nests.

My cats learned very quickly to recognize bees after they got a fat paw.
Bumble bee's habits do not include reusing a nest. So if you can wait out till winter the present lot will all die and the next generation should move to another site. You may want to read theses sites about checking out and preventing future bee sites.
http://www.pestproducts.com/bumble-bees.htm

Answer 2

I think all bees have soldiers who do the nest building first, then escort the queen to the new nest when it's ready. So, I bet it's a soldier/worker bee.

Answer 3

its probably a worker queen bees normally don,t dirty their royal hands doing manual work and you would know a queen she will be so big she can hardly carry herself

Answer 4

That's a tricky question..