From its egg form until it emerges as an adult honeybee!
This article will describe the amazing development of the adult honeybee, from when the egg is laid until the adult bee emerges from its cell. (When we say cell, it’s a very small individual compartment that is part of the large honeycomb, that holds individual larvae, and honey, and pollen and nectar, and bee bread. There could be many thousands of such individual cells in one large honeycomb.) For our purposes we will only talk about the Queen bee, and the worker bee. (We won’t be discussing the drone bee since it has very limited use in the actual, day to day, “busy as a beehive” bee activity.) First, we’ll start with the queen bee (QB). The QB will frequently lay as many as 1000-2000 (yes, two thousand) eggs per day (once the honeycomb is big enough to be able to carry so many eggs). Over a full season, spring to fall, a queen bee will lay from 175,000 – 200,000 eggs!
The worker bees (WB) that are already in existence will determine what those eggs will end up developing into, either another QB or another worker bee. Amazingly enough, it will depend on what type of food the larva (that hatches from the egg) is fed! most of the time it will be fed the diet that will develop it into a WB, and a very small percentage of the time it will purposely be fed the diet that will create a QB. After 3 days, the egg will hatch into a larva. (put picture 1 here)
The larva is a small, worm-like creature. Each WB has 2 special glands, which together produce what is called Royal Jelly (or brood food). There’s the mandibular glands, found by the mouth part of the bee, which produce mainly fatty acids, and there’s the hypopharyngeal glands, found in the bees head, between its eyes, near the brain, which contribute the vital proteins. All in all, Royal jelly is made up of water, proteins, sugars, fats, vitamins, and minerals. It is often called “bee milk”. It’s a sort of milky white, jelly-like substance, hence the Jelly name. The WB will secrete the Royal jelly substance into every “cell” that has a larva in it. For the first three days after the larva hatched, all larvae get fed Royal jelly, but here is where things differ. If the worker bees have determined that a new queen bee is needed, then they will continuously feed those few larvae Royal jelly for about 5 days straight, until it stops eating, and that exclusive Royal jelly diet is what gives it the strength and the chemical signals, to turn into a QB. (They make a few potential QB’s even though only one is needed.) (It stops eating after it molts 5 times, [which enables it to grow bigger and bigger] and then it is ready for the next stage. We discussed the miracle of molting in a previous article.) How do worker bees know when a new queen bee is needed? It’s if the current queen is starting to die of old age, or if it is preparing to swarm, (which means it is ready to fly away to start a new colony, since the current colony has gotten too large to stay in the current hive) then the levels of the queen’s pheromone in the hive drop, which tells the workers that it’s time to start producing more queens. (The queens have a special chemical smell to them, called pheromones, which can tell/communicate a lot of messages to the worker bees of her colony.)
If the worker bees want to produce more worker bees, which is usually the case, then after three days of feeding them the larva Royal jelly, they will wean them off of it (stop feeding them) the royal jelly and they will start to feed them what is called “bee bread”, for the next three days. These larva will all go on to become worker bees.
The bee bread is made mostly out of pollen. When pollen was brought from the flowers to the hive, the bee who brings it brushes it off its legs straight into an open cell. Then the pollen is packed down by a different bee, using its head to pack it down. (The first bee, right after it deposits its pollen into the cell, goes right back out of the hive to get more nectar and pollen.) After it’s packed down, they also add to it some honey, salivary secretions, and lactic acid. These added ingredients encourage fermentation, a process that helps break down the tough outer coating of the pollen and make the inner contents much more digestible for the larva. Then after the cell is full of the bee bread, the bees add a full layer of honey over the top of that cell, in order to block out air and microbes, which helps it stay fresh for a longer time. This is what bee bread is made of!
The difference between the queen and regular workers is that the queen bees have larger bodies, and they can lay eggs, and they live an average lifespan of four or five years. Worker bees have much smaller bodies, different inner organs that can’t lay eggs, and they are “programmed”, by Hashem, to do all the different types of work that must be done around the hive, and out of the hive, and their average lifespan is only around six weeks. Because of their short life span, that’s the main reason the queen bee needs to keep laying eggs, day after day.
In those first six days of the larva’s life, the larvae can grow 1,500 times larger than its original larva size! When the WB sees that the larva is the correct size, it will place a special wax cap on top of the cell, which you can’t see through, nevertheless, it is porous (which means it has small holes in them so that the bee can breathe) and that’s where the next step in the process will take place.
Now will start a miraculous metamorphosis process!! (60 percent of all insects go through a similar miraculous metamorphosis, similar to what the caterpillar goes through in its chrysalis/pupa/cocoon when turning into a butterfly!) This larva will turn into an adult bee within about 10-13 days from when it was capped closed! Some take as little as 7 days (the queen) to turn into an adult! Nevertheless, the changes are HUGE! From a simple worm like larva, to a very uniquely structured adult bee. It turns into a bee with all its many parts, including the wings, and the pollen baskets, and its barbed stinger, and antenna. It will develop many other important parts to it like the 2 special glands that together make the “bee milk”, and the special stomach that holds the nectar until it gets to the hive, and there’s the really hairy body, and the crucial proboscis that sucks up the nectar from the flowers, plus all the instincts that will lead them to the very unique behaviors that they have, which we will still talk about, in such a short time! What a colossal MIRACLE!!
So far, we have these live machines of Hashem involved with the job of developing the larva into adult bees. WHO “taught” the bees about feeding the larva the bee milk that is in them? Who taught them how many days to feed the queen larva and the WB larva? Who taught them how to make proper “bee bread”? And did the 2 special glands that together make up the perfect bee’s milk, happen by accident? Without these glands producing the bee milk, the larva would die of starvation. It’s one miracle after the other! It’s all amazing instincts that Hashem put into the bees to know what to do. These plans could never come about by accident! How wonderous are Your creations, Hashem!
This article described the development of the egg into the adult bee. In the next article we will IY”H, go through the many stages, and jobs the bee goes through during its life cycle.
Picture 1 Queen bee laying an egg in a cell. Which will turn into a larva as seen in the cell next to it. Eventually, in approximately six days as a larva it will have grown to fill up the entire cell. That’s when it gets capped and it will turn into an adult bee over about 10-12 days. So, in a total of about 20-21 days or so, it will have grown and developed from an egg into a flying adult honeybee!
About the Author
Rabbi Shmuel Waldman is a highly respected educator and Torah scholar, with over 50 years dedicated to the study and teaching of Judaism. His formative years were spent at the esteemed Mirrer Yeshiva, where he developed a strong foundation in Torah learning. Influenced by the profound teachings of Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZTL and guided by his close association with Rav Don Segal, shlit”a, Rabbi Waldman has become a leading voice in Jewish education and thought.
As Mashgiach of Yeshiva Mercaz Hatorah of Belle Harbor, Rabbi Waldman provided spiritual guidance and mentorship to generations of students. His book, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Convincing Evidence to the Truths of Judaism, published in 2002, remains a cornerstone in the world of kiruv. This widely acclaimed work has sold tens of thousands of copies, offering readers a clear and compelling understanding of Judaism’s core beliefs.
Rabbi Waldman has also shared his knowledge as a teacher at Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe and inspired countless students through his involvement in Jewish summer camps. Currently, he is focused on writing an in-depth Sefer on the transformative power of prayer, emphasizing its importance in daily life. He has also expanded his educational efforts through a blog and YouTube channel, where he addresses topics like Intelligent Design and critiques the Theory of Evolution.
Rabbi Shmuel Waldman’s lifelong dedication to teaching and inspiring others has left an indelible mark on the Jewish community, enriching the lives of students and readers worldwide. His work continues to guide individuals on their spiritual journeys and deepen their connection to Judaism.