A new queen is lighter colored and smaller than she will be after she is laying. She is also more runny. A laying queen usually just walztes across the combs like she has a sense of purpose. The workers usually ignore you unless you actually practically touch them. A virgin queen, if you get your finger even close, will run like she's looking for a place to hide, which she is. The queen usually doesn't have any distinct stripes where the workers usually do. The queen may have some "tiger" striping but they are not even parallel bands like the workers have. The queen will still have a distinctly longer abdomen than the workers, but not as long or as fat as a lyaing queen.