> Seeley (1978) reported that 79% of queens survived for one year in unmanaged colonies, 26% for 2 years, and no queen survived 3 years. One controlled study of queen survival in commercial colonies in California demonstrated that only 61% of established queens lived longer than 10 months (Gordon et al., 1995). A similar study conducted in Mexico under very different conditions showed that only 28% survived more than 12 months (Guzman-Novoa et al., 1998). 

> The average life expectancy of a feral colony (which could be longer, but not shorter, than the life span of a queen) in California declined from an estimated mean of 3.5 years to less than 1 year following the introduction of the parasitic mite Varroa jacobsoni [sic] in 1987 (Kraus and Page, 1995). From this we conclude that queens can live a long time, and sometimes do, but most live one year or less.

"Aging and development in social insects with emphasis on the honey bee, Apis mellifera L."
Robert E Page Jr., Christine Y.-S Peng
Experimental Gerontology Volume 36, Issues 4–6, April 2001, Pages 695–711

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