Find Out More About The Life Cycle Of A Bee
Bees live in a unique way as the life cycle of a bee revolves around four stages; the egg, the larva, the pupa and the adult. The first stage begins with the egg. After mating with a male bee, the queen bee lays eggs in the already built cells. This egg is linked to the bees nest with a mucus strand. The queen lays one egg after another in different cells. The capacity of a queen bee production each day reaches 1900 eggs during the spring.
Little larva hatches from the egg. Now it is a time for worker bees to get involved into the process. Their responsibility is to take care for the egg bees and to feed them. A special bee bread that is a blend of gland secretions and honey helps the larvae grow and develop.
Under each stage, the larva sheds out its outer skin. When the larva is approximately 6-7 days old, it is capped by worker bee in cocooning itself for further growth. The larvae then reside for about 9-10days. Then it finally emerges from the cocoon forming a young bee. The bee life usually continues for a couple of years.
A queen bee then kills her sisters and mothers for the sake of her survival. The worker bees look after her. They feed her and also remove her waste. They queen bee has nothing to do but only lay eggs. The queen bees that have not mated with the male bees i.e. the drone bees are called as the virgin bees. The aim of the drone bees is to impregnate queen bees. Once the drones mate with the queen they die. In case of a great number of drone bees in the hive, a bee nest removal is required. They have a very short life span. Worker bees are also female bees like the queen bees and are able to live up to 150 days during winters. Their life span lowers in summer as they are always loaded of work as their job is wide and varied. Worker bees are also referred to as nurse bees as they are the care takers of the larvae. Some of the worker bees, particularly the young ones are responsible for collecting pollen for the preparation of the honey. In addition, they take care of the queen bee too.
This is what the process of a life cycle of a bee involves.
Queen Bee Mating with Drone on front porch, So. Burlington, Vermont USA October 3, 2009
