Two life cycles: the bee and the colony
“Bee hive life cycle” can mean two things. One is the development of an individual bee from egg to adult. The other is the yearly cycle of the colony: shrinking in winter, growing in spring, peaking in summer and slowing in autumn. This article covers both, starting with the individual bee because it explains much of what happens at colony level.
How an individual bee develops
Honey bees go through complete metamorphosis, with four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The queen lays each egg in a wax cell. The commonly quoted development times are:
| Caste | Approximate days from egg to adult |
|---|---|
| Queen | About 16 |
| Worker | About 21 |
| Drone | About 24 |
These are typical figures. Temperature, nutrition and colony condition can shift them slightly.
Egg
The queen lays a tiny, white, rice-shaped egg at the bottom of a cell. Fertilized eggs become females, either workers or queens. Unfertilized eggs become drones. The egg hatches after about three days for all castes.
Larva
The hatched larva is a small white grub. Nurse bees feed it frequently. All young larvae receive royal jelly at first. Worker and drone larvae are soon switched to a diet that includes pollen and honey, while a queen larva continues to receive royal jelly. This difference in feeding is what produces a queen from what is otherwise an ordinary female egg. When the larva has grown enough, workers cap the cell with wax.
Pupa
Inside the capped cell the larva spins a thin cocoon and transforms into the adult form. Beekeepers recognize capped worker brood by its slightly domed, tan cappings and drone brood by larger, more strongly domed ones.
Adult
The adult chews through the capping and emerges. A new worker begins with tasks inside the nest and, in the normal pattern, moves on to guarding and foraging as she ages. For more on how roles are divided, see the guide to bee hive hierarchy.
The colony’s year
The details depend on your climate, forage and bee stock. The outline below suits a temperate climate with a cold winter. In warm regions the quiet period may be short or nearly absent, and the calendar will look different.
Winter
- Bees form a cluster, a tight ball around the queen, and keep warm by shivering their flight muscles and by staying close together.
- They live on stored honey. The cluster slowly moves across the comb to reach food.
- Brood rearing is minimal in the coldest period. Many colonies begin raising some brood again in late winter, as days lengthen, though this varies.
- The bees that carry the colony through are long-lived “winter bees,” which differ from summer bees in physiology and can live for months.
Spring
- Pollen and nectar start to arrive and brood rearing speeds up.
- Winter bees die off and are replaced by a new generation.
- The population builds quickly, which is why spring is when beekeepers watch for crowding.
- Drones start to be raised.
- Swarm preparation can begin if the nest becomes crowded and conditions are good. See swarm cells in a bee hive for how to spot and handle them.
Summer
- Population is at or near its peak, with a large foraging force.
- The main nectar flow, where there is one, is when colonies store surplus honey.
- Drones are present, and queens in nearby colonies get mated.
- In some regions there is a mid-summer dearth, when forage is scarce, and colonies may reduce brood or become more defensive.
Autumn
- Brood rearing tapers and the colony shrinks.
- Drones are pushed out as resources become scarcer.
- The colony stores the last of its honey and rears the bees that will overwinter.
- Beekeepers typically check stores and manage pests at this point, since the bees raised now are the ones that carry the colony through winter.
You can see typical population swings in how many bees live in a hive.
Do bees go back to the same hive every year?
A colony can occupy the same nest for many years because it renews itself: workers are replaced continuously and queens are replaced when needed. Individual bees do not return year after year, since most live only weeks or months. A swarm that leaves a hive will usually settle somewhere new. How long a colony and its nest last is the topic of honey bee hive lifespan.
What time of day do bees return to the hive?
Foragers go out during the day when it is warm enough and return by dusk. On a bad day they may stay in. Some bees may be seen clustering outside the entrance in the evening in hot weather, which is generally normal.
A word on the “3-3-3 rule”
You may see “the 3-3-3 rule” mentioned in beekeeping discussions. It is used in different ways in different places, and I am not confident enough about any single meaning to give one here. If you encounter it, check what the source means by it, since it may refer to development times or to something else entirely.
Key takeaways
- A worker develops from egg to adult in about three weeks, a queen in about two weeks and a bit, and a drone in about three and a half weeks.
- The colony shrinks in winter, builds in spring, peaks in summer and tapers in autumn.
- Winter bees, raised in late summer and autumn, are the ones that carry the colony through winter.
- Climate shifts the calendar, so learn the pattern for your own area.