Stages of a Honey Bee Life

Did you know?

“The honey bee has four distinct stages (egg, larva, pupa and adult) as do other insects with complete metamorphosis (such as ants, wasps, beetles, flies, butterflies and moths).  The egg, larval and pupal stages of the bee are collectively called the brood.  The adult bees in a colony maintain a constant 95F in the portion of the comb that contains brood.  This uniform temperature in the broodnest causes the brood to develop at a constant rate.”  (Root p.500, 2007)

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“Brood cells of a bee are either open (called uncapped brood) or closed with a thin layer of new wax, used wax and propolis (called capped or sealed brood).  Cells with younger brood (all the eggs and most of the larvae) are uncapped.  About one day before the end of the larval stage, worker bees put wax cappings over the cells.  Therefore, capped brood includes this last day of the larval stage, the entire prepupal and pupal stages, and a brief part of the adult stage.  The prepupal and pupal stages represent the transformation of larva to adult.  Physical changes take place during both stages and they can be collectively called the pupal stage, however the appearance is different.  The earlier stage looks like a larva and the latter stage looks more like an adult.”  (Root p.500, 2007)

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“Three days after being laid, the egg shell dissolves, (called eclosion) exposing the larva, which is the eating specialist.  The larva finishes eating, spins a cocoon, and then lies motionless in the cell.  Spinning the cocoon marks the end of the larval stage, but the bee, which is now a prepupa, still has a larval skin and the appearance of a larva.  During the prepulal stage, the bee begins to transform into an adult.  The pupal stage begins when the larval skin is shed exposing a body that has the general features of an adult bee.  A pupa gradually changes from white to nearly black, with the eyes showing the first coloration.  When the pupal skin is shed, the wings expand and the bee becomes an adult.  The adult bee gradually becomes more active, chews away the cell cap and exits.”  (Root p.500, 2007)

Did you know?

“Development time is variable.  The table assigns an average development period that is about one day shorter than that which has been reported in previous beekeeping books.  Recent work has consistently shown that the average development time for worker bees is about 20 days, but variation is common.  For example, when starting a colony of bees with adult workers and a queen (no brood), it is common to see adult worker bees emerge from brood cells in fewer than 19 days from the time the queen was released to lay eggs.  Conversely, that same colony may have some worker bees emerging from brood cells as long as 21 days after the queen had been removed.  Thus there is variation within a colony, caused mostly by the location of a cell and the care it received.”  (Root p.500, 2007)

Did you know?

“Variation also occurs among different colonies and among different races of bees.  African races of bees may have total development times that average more than one day shorter than the totals reported in the table.  However, the point of the example is that even within a single colony, one could conclude that the development time of a worker bee is either 19 to 21 days  depending on with bees were examined.  Both would be correct, but neither would be the colony average.”  (Root p.500-501, 2007)

Learn about worker queens Here

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Dan Luong

Latest posts by Dan Luong (see all)

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