Band 8.5 — Process: The Life Cycle of the Honeybee

The diagram illustrates the various stages through which a honeybee passes during its life, from the laying of an egg to the emergence of a fully formed adult.

Overall, this is a continuous, repeating cycle that comprises five main stages and takes approximately three weeks to complete, with every phase of development taking place inside a single wax cell of the hive.

The process begins when the queen bee lays an egg in a cell of the honeycomb. After roughly three days, the egg hatches into a larva—a small white grub that is fed constantly by worker bees. By around the ninth day, having grown considerably, the larva is sealed inside its cell, which the workers cap with wax.

Within this enclosed cell, the insect subsequently enters the pupa stage at about day twelve, during which its body is gradually transformed into that of an adult bee. In the final stage, some 21 days after the egg was laid, the fully developed bee chews its way out of the cell and emerges. Once mature, a new queen will lay eggs of her own, whereupon the entire cycle begins anew.