Life Cycle of a Honey Bee The life cycle begins when an
established colony’s queen begins laying eggs within individual
cells inside a honeycomb. Queens store more than 5 million sperm
cells inside their bodies, enabling them to lay eggs throughout
their life after only one mating flight. When the eggs hatch,
those that were fertilized become female worker bees, while the
unfertilized eggs become male bees, or drones. It is the
responsibility of the queen to lay enough fertilized eggs to
produce a well-developed force of worker bees for the colony.
Bees pass through four stages: eggs, larvae, pupae and adults.
Bee eggs measure approximately 1 mm long. Queen bees examine
their eggs before placing them side by side at the center of the
comb frame, with pollen surrounding them. Queens can lay up to
2,000 eggs each day throughout the spring. As queens age, the
number of eggs they lays significantly diminishes. They may also
no longer be able to place the eggs closely together, resulting
in a patchy comb. After th