Every bee passes through four stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult. This is called complete metamorphosis, the same plan that butterflies and beetles use. The full story of how a body is rebuilt inside the pupa is told in Ecosystem Island, in the Metamorphosis world. Here we only follow the bee's schedule and what it means for the colony.
The stages of a worker, counted from the day the egg is laid:
| Stage | What happens | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Egg | a tiny grain of rice standing on the bottom of a cell | about 3 |
| Larva | a white grub fed again and again by nurse bees | about 6 |
| Pupa | the cell is capped with wax and the body is rebuilt | about 12 |
| Adult | the new bee chews her way out | day 21 |
3 + 6 + 12 = 21 days. A worker that starts today as an egg walks out of her cell three weeks from now.