As beekeepers, the ability to monitor our hives comes in short bursts of activity usually in the form of regular hive inspections. For the most part, unless you have an observation hive, this time spent deep in the nitty gritty of the bee’s daily life is only for a few short moments. As we remove the frames, glance over the thousands of busy bees, check for brood, check for capped honey, maybe spot the queen… then the frames go back in their slots and the hive is sealed up again.
But in the hours spent away from our hives, thousands of tiny miracles are happening everyday. Within the hexagonal wax cells little lives are hatching out and joining the hive family.
Let’s take a closer look at that miracle and explore how a baby bee is born.
1. The Queen Lays the Egg
The whole process from egg to adult worker bee takes around 18 days. For a queen bee, it’s around 24 days.
During the laying season (late spring to summer) the Queen bee is capable of laying over 1500 eggs per day. Her worker bees help direct her to the best prepared comb and she lays a single egg in each hexagon shaped cell.
The size of the cell prepared determines the type of egg she lays. If the worker bees have prepared a worker size cell, she will lay a fertilized egg. This egg will produce a female worker bee.
If the worker bees have prepared a slightly larger cell, the queen will recognize this as a drone cell and lay an unfertilized egg. This will produce a male drone bee.
It is the workers and not the queen that determine the ratio of workers to drones within the hive.
2. The Larva Hatches
In three days the egg hatches and a larva emerges. It looks very similar to a small maggot. In the beginning the young, nurse bees feed the larva royal jelly to help them grow quickly. Royal jelly is a nutritionally dense secretion that worker bees produce and feed to the larva. After three days they stop feeding royal jelly, (unless that bee is to become a queen) and switch to honey. Queen bees are fed royal jelly throughout the entire larva stage.
3. Sealed with Wax
Sealed brood comb
On the fifth day the worker bees seal the cell with a wax cap. The larva is now 1500 times the size it was when it hatched. The larva then surrounds itself with a cocoon inside the cell, similar to a butterfly.
4. Pupa
Much like the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly, the larva spends the rest of its time in the cocoon cell growing wings, legs, eyes and all the other parts of an adult bee. This process takes approximately 12 days.
5. The Birth of a Bee
On the 18th day the baby bee is fully developed chews through the wax cap. It is now a productive member of the hive.
Tracking the Life Cycle of a Honeybee
Encyclopedia Britannica Honeybee
15 Comments
Oh that was wonderful I love the illustration are you selling them.
Now I have to admit I also had bees and never thought of that all that work for a delicious gold liquid. Busy little bees
In your article you said an egg for three days. Then hatches into larvae. Fed royal jelly for 3 days. Then capped on the 5th day. Then is capped for 12 days. Then emerges on the 18th day. As a worker I guess. I’m totally confused. What happen to an egg for 3. Larvae for 6 and capped for 12. That is 21 days. Maybe I’m reading it wrong
hmmm.
“The whole process from egg to adult worker bee takes around 18 days. For a queen bee, it’s around 24 days.”
Queen about 18 days, worker 21 days , and drone 24 days.
Thanks for this clear and simple explanation. I’ve passed it on to curious friends. The photos are helpful too!
Catharine
[…] The Life Cycle of a Baby Bee […]
See comment about the birth of a queen. Here in Maine, it’s about 16 days while the drones take 23 to 24 depending on the temperature.
I am a beekeeping in Valparaiso, Florida. I am planning free presentations and training for children at the local libraries and would like very much to have your permission to use you excellent photos and articles in my program. I request your permission to do so and I will give credit in the program for the work you have done.
The article says that it’s 24 days to an adult queen. I thought it was 16 days to and adult queen and 24 days to an adult drone?
This is great description of this process, thank you? Can I share the link with my readers??
I was just looking at a sunflower I have growing that is close to blooming. There are baby bees tucked in the layers. I don’t know a lot about bees, but looking at the chart, how did this happen?
I find a number of articles out of date and inaccurate in Keeping Backyard Bees. In this article there are not any “baby bees.” If this was true a queen would lay a baby bee and not an egg. In the honey bee field, I find a lot of misinformation. The biggest misinformation is what mites feed on. Sammy Ramsey cleared this up.
Jerry,
I think maybe you’re taking “baby bee” too literally here. “young bee” is no doubt more accurate, but “baby bee” is nicely alliterative and amusing.
Good for my beginning
I believe you mixed up queen with drone, as queen time is 16 days and drone is 24. Also the worker is 21 days. Also, after the first 3 days of larva stage, the workers are fed a mixture of glandular secretions and beebread, not just honey. Please check your sources before printing.
Thanks for a very interesting mail. the sketches particularly is fabulous.