When the tunnel is ready, the queen lays her first eggs.  As the weather gets colder, the queen goes to sleep.  She stays asleep all winter.  She wakes up in the spring and begins to look after her eggs.  She licks them to keep them clean.  After a few weeks the eggs hatch into larvae.  Each larva has a soft body, a mouth and tiny sharp jaws.  The queen feeds them. The queen also grows wings and the queen has to find her nest. When she digs she shreds her wings. Ants also have fights. Ants leave a scent so other ants can follow.

When an ant finds a green fly it does not eat it. When it is stroked, the green fly gives off a sweet fluid called honeydew which the ant likes. So the ant milks the green fly like a farmer milking a cow.

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