FROM EGG TO EMERGENCE
How a honey bee
grows into an adult.
Compare queen, worker, and drone bees on the same clock, then move through the days to see what changes inside the hive.
Explore the life cycle ↓THE COLONY’S NURSERY
Queen, worker and drone development.
Choose a bee, move the day slider, and compare what is happening side by side.
Egg stage
Raised in a special queen cell. After emergence, her central role is laying eggs and helping hold the colony together through queen pheromone.Egg stage
Female bees that do most colony work: nursing, comb building, cleaning, guarding, nectar handling, and foraging.Egg stage
Male bees develop from unfertilized eggs. Their main adult role is mating with a queen from another colony.A closer look inside a worker cell.
01 / EGG
Life starts in a single cell.
A tiny egg rests inside the comb.
Slide the gold handle to see how bees grow, day by day.
Days are approximate, counted from egg laying. Capped development includes the prepupal and pupal stages; temperature and colony conditions can change the timing.
AFTER EMERGENCE · LIFE IN THE COLONY
What adult bees do in the colony.
Growing into an adult is only the beginning. Choose a role to see how each bee contributes.
YOUR TURN · CHOOSE ONE ANSWER
It is day 18. Who has usually emerged?
Assume typical development from the day the eggs were laid.
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.