TThere are three development stages in bees which collectively are known as brood. Once the queen has mated, she'll begin her many months of laying eggs in earnest. In a typical Langstroth hive, she'll begin in the lower box, which sits on the bottom board.
EGG
The queen lays the eggs at the bottom of the cell. To make it easier to discuss, let's say she fertilized them, which means that the eggs will become workers.
The eggs are really small, but you can see them if you squint and have the right light. The egg stage lasts three days.
LARVA
When an egg hatches, it becomes a larva. The bee larvae are legless and featureless white grubs. They are fed by the adult nurse bees and never leave the individual wax cells. The larvae grow rapidly in five stages, increasing 1500 times their original size. During their development, they are visited around 10,000 times by adult nurse bees for inspection, feeding and eventually capping of cells.
CAPPED CELL or PUPA
Around day 9 nurse bees will cap the cell. These cells are easy to spot, as their color is darker and rougher than that of uncapped cells. This cap is porous, allowing the larvae to breathe.
Drones need 6.5 days, workers 6 days, and queens 5.5 days to develop from larvae to pupae. Temperature must be warm for them to develop correctly. When fully grown and filling the cell, the larva changes to a pupa (plural: pupae).
Bee larvae are fed royal jelly from the moment they hatch. Royal jelly is a protein-rich food made in worker bee glands and placed in cells just before the larva hatches. Initially, all larvae are mass-fed royal jelly. But the diet of worker bees and queen bee larvae changes after 2.5 to 3 days, while queen bee larvae continue to be fed royal jelly.
Continue reading about how you can assess if you have a strong bee colony. As always, feel free to send us your feedback and suggestions to improve our beekeeping tips & lessons at contact@apiarybook.com.