r/Beekeeping Wiki

Honey Bee Biology

Lifecycle

Stage	Drone (Male)	Worker (Female)	Queen (Female)
Egg	Laid in larger cells. Unfertilized. Develops for about 3 days.	Laid in standard worker cells. Fertilized. Develops for about 3 days.	Laid in specially constructed queen cells. Fertilized. Develops for about 3 days.
Larva	Fed royal jelly for the first few days, then bee bread. Larger and grows in larger cells. Larval stage lasts about 6.5 days.	Fed royal jelly for the first few days, then a mixture of honey and pollen. Larval stage lasts about 6 days.	Continuously fed royal jelly. Rapid growth. Larval stage lasts about 5.5 days.
Pupa	Sealed in a cell and undergoes metamorphosis. Pupal stage lasts about 14.5 days.	Sealed in a cell. Undergoes metamorphosis. Pupal stage lasts about 12 days.	Sealed in a special queen cell. Undergoes metamorphosis. Pupal stage lasts about 7.5 days.
Adult	Primary role is to mate with a queen. Does not forage or produce honey. Lifespan varies but typically short lived (weeks to a few months).	Performs various roles including nursing, foraging, and hive maintenance. Lifespan is typically a few months, but longer in winter bees.	Sole egg layer in the hive. Can live several years. Mates during early life and stores sperm.

Table: Caste lifecycles. Drones take ~24 days from egg laying to emergence, Queens ~16 days, and workers ~21 days.

TODO: Cover reproduction (esp. how the colony makes new queens)

Key takeaways

• The egg stage lasts around 3 days. During this phase, the genes are activated and the clumps of cells arrange themselves into a larval shape.
• The larval stage is summarised as “moulting [shedding of exoskeleton] and rapid growth”.
• The pupal stage begins when the cell is capped; the larva moves into an upright position and begins spinning a thin cocoon from silk produced by its salivary glands.
  • This stage takes around 36 hours, and features the final shedding of the larval cuticle (also called the “prepupal stage” in literature)
• In the pupal stage, there are clumps of cells on the pupa that get activated and begin forming structures like the legs and wings.
• The end of the pupal stage is marked by hardening and colouration of the cuticle [exoskeleton].
• The emerging bee sheds its pupal cuticle, as it begins to leave from the cell.
  • The shedding and emergence occur together. As a result parts of the cuticle are still attached to the emerging bee. As there is insufficient time for the cuticle to harden, the bees’ exoskeleton is still soft.
    • This is why for the first few days of life, an adult bee cannot fly or sting and is hairier and lighter in colour than her nest mates.