The life cycle of a bee goes through four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult.

The queen bee lays both fertilized and unfertilized eggs. Drone bees develop from the unfertilized eggs and are haploid, while worker bees and queen bee develop from the fertilized eggs and are diploid.

• Egg Stage:

The queen bee lays pin head sized white eggs in wax cells of the hive. Eggs are small and upright, hatching after about 3 days into larvae. 

• Larva Stage: 

After hatching, the larva is fed royal jelly for the first few days. The royal jelly is fed continuously only to the female larva which is destined to develop into queen been.

The rest are switched to a diet of pollen and honey. This stage lasts about 6 days, during which the larva molts several times. The workers seal the top of the brood cells with bee wax for protection and transformation into pupa.

• Pupa Stage:

In the pupa stage, the bees begin to develop legs, eyes and wings and this process is known as histogenesis. When the bees reach a stage of maturity, the mandibles chew the way out of the cells and they emerge as adult bees. 

The pupa stage lasts for 7 days for the queen, 12 days for the workers and 14 days for the drones.

• Adult Stage:

All three types of adult bees are now fully grown. They are ready to accomplish their tasks.