Life cycle of the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

	Different cells are used for different castes: About 5 mm across – workers About 7 mm across, deeper with domed caps. Usually on the edges where it is cooler 35°C– drones Queen cell – not normally part of the comb – round and large.
Queen lays eggs in the bottom of the broodiest	The bee is in the egg for 3 days
Larvae – bees go through five instars Queen bees are larvae for 5 days and receive royal jelly each day. There is a specialized queen cell. Worker bees are larvae for 6 days and receive royal jelly for 3 days. They are placed in 5mm brood cells. Drones are larvae for 6.5 days and receive royal jelly for 3 days and then a slightly more nutritious diet than workers for the remainder of the time. They are placed in 7mm brood cells.
Different instar in development and an egg	When larvae are ready to pupate they stand upright in the cell, void their digestive systems. At this point the house bees will cover the cell with a mixture of beeswax and propolis
Pupating workers – with the cappings removed to show developmental stages.	A pupating drone
The period as a pupae varies with caste Worker is a pupae for 12 days Queen a pupae for 7.5 days Done a pupae for 14.5 days	Thus total developmental time is: Queen: 16 days Worker: 21 days Drone: 24 days
Typical broodnest with both worker and drone brood. Note the drone brood is on the cooler edge with the domed cells (arrowed)	Queen cells on a frame – note outside the main frame (arrowed).Sometimes workers appear to “play” with making queen cells

The workers life cycle:

1	Cell cleaning
2
3	Queen care – nursing (feeding young) and wax work
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11	Wax work Nectar processing Guarding Undertaking
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21	Foraging: Water Nectar Pollen Colony defence (soldiering)
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