Life Cycle of Honeybee
The life cycle of honey bees is divided into four stages: the egg, the larval, the pupal and the adult stage.

Stage 1 – The Egg Stage:
‍Queen bee is the only bee in the colony who is capable of laying about 2,000 to 3,000 eggs in one day. The egg is positioned upright and falls on the side by the third day. The queen bee lays both fertilized egg and unfertilized egg. The fertilized egg develops into female bees or queen bees. The unfertilized egg hatches and male bees are born; also known as drone bees.

Stage 2 – The Larval Stage:
‍The difference between a worker and the queen bee is made three days after the egg transforms into larvae and six days after the egg is laid in the beehive. The “royal jelly” is fed to all the larvae, i.e., the female bees, the workers and the drone bees during their initial three days as larvae. The larva sheds skin multiple times throughout this stage. Later, the royal jelly is fed only to the female larvae, which eventually becomes a queen bee. Finally, the worker bees cover the top of the cell with beeswax to protect and facilitate the transformation of the larvae into a pupa.

Stage 3 – The Pupal Stage:
‍The pupa stage is the final stage before a developed bee will emerge from the cell, and this occurs once the larva has been capped over on the ninth day of the life cycle. During the pupa stage, the larva will be sealed inside the cell, but the duration of time they remain in their capped cell depends upon what role they will fulfill in the hive. The pupa stage is also when a recognizable bee takes form, and when the wings, head, thorax, and abdomen will develop.

Stage 4 – The Adult Stage:
‍Once the pupa is matured, the new adult bee chews its way out of the closed-cell. The queen bee takes 16 days from the egg stage to form into an adult. The worker bee takes 18 to 22 days for complete development, and drone bees take 24 days to develop into an adult bee.