The Work & Life Cycle of Honeybees

From left to right: Worker bee (female), Drone bee (male), Queen bee (egg laying female for colony)

The chart below illustrates the progressive duties of the worker bee (Left honeybee in above pic.). The drone bee (middle bee in above pic.) has no field or hive duties. Mating with new queens is his sole purpose. The queen (right bee in above pic.) has the duties of laying eggs and hive morale. The

chart below also shows the activities and lifespan of the summer worker bees. Bees born in the fall keep the queen safe and warm during the winter to start the new brood cycles in the Spring. During the Fall season, the Drone is rejected and kicked out of it’s hive, for better utilization of colony resources, and does not live through the winter. The queen can live up to 2-3 years and is replaced by the colony when necessary.