Yes, bees do hatch from eggs, and this initial stage marks the beginning of a complex biological process known as complete metamorphosis. This development involves four distinct life stages: the egg, the larva, the pupa, and the adult. For a bee colony, the life cycle starts when the queen, the sole reproductive female, deposits an egg into a prepared wax cell within the hive. The entire transformation from a tiny egg to a fully formed adult bee is a precisely timed and orchestrated event that ensures the continuation of the colony.
The Start: The Egg Phase
Every bee begins as a minuscule, pearly white egg laid by the queen at the base of a hexagonal wax cell. These eggs are elongated, measuring only about 1.7 millimeters. A healthy queen bee can lay well over 1,500 eggs each day during the peak season to maintain the colony’s population. The egg stage itself is remarkably consistent, lasting for approximately three days regardless of whether the developing bee will become a worker, drone, or a future queen.
The queen possesses the biological ability to control the sex of the offspring by determining whether or not she fertilizes the egg. Eggs that are fertilized with stored sperm will develop into females, which become either worker bees or new queens. Conversely, unfertilized eggs develop into males, known as drones. This distinction is made clear by the size of the cell the queen chooses, with larger cells reserved for the unfertilized eggs that will become the bulkier drones.
The Transformation: From Larva to Pupa
After the third day, the egg hatches, revealing a legless, C-shaped creature called a larva. This larval stage is characterized by explosive growth and constant feeding, as the larva does not leave its cell. Nurse bees, which are young adult workers, visit the cell frequently to progressively feed the grub. For the first few days, all larvae receive a protein-rich secretion called royal jelly, which is produced by the nurse bees’ glands.
The larva must shed its outer skin, or molt, multiple times to accommodate its rapidly increasing size, undergoing five such molts in its short lifespan. A worker larva will transition from royal jelly to a diet of “bee bread,” a mixture of pollen and honey, a switch that slows its growth compared to a queen. Once the larva has completely filled its cell, it stops feeding, and the worker bees seal the cell with a wax cap.
Inside the capped cell, the larva spins a thin cocoon and becomes a pupa. During this stage, the internal tissues and organs of the grub-like larva are reorganized into the adult form. Structures like the compound eyes, antennae, wings, and legs gradually develop. The duration of this pupal stage varies by caste, culminating when the newly formed adult bee chews its way out of the wax cap.
Determining Destiny: The Bee Castes
The final role of the adult bee is determined by a combination of the initial egg type and the nutrition it receives during the larval stage. The queen’s choice to lay a fertilized egg (female) or an unfertilized egg (male) establishes the bee’s sex and potential caste.
The difference between a worker and a queen is purely environmental, resting entirely on the quality and quantity of the larval diet. Worker larvae are switched to the pollen and honey mixture after the first few days, resulting in a total development time of about 21 days from egg to emergence. In contrast, a chosen female larva destined to become a queen is continuously fed large amounts of royal jelly throughout its entire larval development.
This constant, specialized feeding triggers the development of fully functional ovaries and a larger body structure, allowing the queen to emerge in a rapid 16 days. Drones, developing from unfertilized eggs in larger cells, take the longest at approximately 24 days to reach maturity. These three distinct developmental pathways ensure the hive is populated with the necessary roles: the reproductive queen, the numerous sterile female workers, and the male drones whose sole purpose is to mate.