The Life Cycle of a Bee

Because bees are insects they have four stages to their life cycle.

The stages are, egg, larva, pupa and adult.

The life cycle process is called metamorphosis, which means

that the form of the bee changes from the larva to the adult. Passing through the immature stages takes 21 days for worker bees.

On the first day, the queen bee lays a single egg in each cell of the comb. The egg generally hatches into a larva on the fourth day.

The larva is a legless grub that resembles a tiny white sausage. The larva is fed a mixture of pollen and nectar called beebread.

On the ninth day the cell is capped with wax and the larva transforms into the pupa. The pupa doesn't eat.

On day 21, the new adult worker bee emerges.

Back to Bees.