Have you ever seen a bee buzz by and wondered, “how long do bees live?” if yes, this question may also have popped up in other peoples’ minds. According to research on wildlife, there are approximately 20,000 species of bees worldwide, and about 4,000 are native to the United States.
As these small, fuzzy-looking insects are so much in number, it might seem like they have long lifespans. However, this is not the case. Bees are one of the most common winged insects closest to bugs and ants in anatomy. However, the lifespans of these bees are quite different from those of ants and other insects.
So, how long do bees live? Let us find out.
Table of Contents
How Long Do Bees Live?
The question of how long bees live may seem like a straightforward and simple question. However, the answer is more complex. Bees have different lifespans, depending on several factors, such as species, role, diseases, pesticides, weather conditions, parasites, and predators. Although an exact figure for bees’ lifespans cannot be provided, an estimate is that bees live anywhere from two weeks to six years. The huge variation in the bees’ lifespans is due to the variation in species; worker bees live for a very short amount of time, while queen bees live quite long.
A bee’s lifespan is affected by many factors, the most common ones of which are:
- Parasites and diseases
Some bacterial, viral, and fungal infections can reduce bees’ lifespans. For example, the Varroa Destructor Mite significantly affects and threatens a bee’s lifespan.
- Climate changes
Climate changes result in variations in habitat and food availability. Additionally, urbanization also affects the longevity of bee habitats. Heavy rains, hailstorms, and high winds affect the lives of bees and threaten them.
- Pesticides
Some pesticides sprayed to reduce pests and insects may harm bees and threaten their lives. Some farmers use pesticides to ward off harmful insects that eat crops and plants. The chemicals in these pesticides are harmful to the bees and may kill them.
How Long Does a Queen Bee Live?
If there is no human or weather interference and everything goes smoothly, a queen bee can live between 3 to 5 years. The primary job of a queen bee is to reproduce, which means she does not leave the hive and, as a result, is not exposed to the “wear and tear” that other bees experience.
In addition, by staying in the hive, a queen bee is protected from predators, human attacks, and diseases. A queen bee is responsible for laying eggs while the worker bees and the female worker bees look after those eggs and protect them from harm and external attacks.
The turning point in a queen bee’s life comes when she can no longer produce many eggs, and pheromones stop being as attractive as they once were. As soon as the other bees sense this change, they kill the queen bee and start working on raising a new queen bee. The larvae chosen are fed royal jelly until the colony chooses the new queen bee.
How long does a Honeybee live?
Honeybees reside in sophisticated environments, and the lifespans of bees vary among each other. These lifespans are also affected largely by climate conditions, weather intervention, human interference, and pollution.
Honeybees have different roles in the colony and are divided on the basis of these different roles. All types of honey bees perform different roles to ensure the smooth running of the colony, and an important factor affecting the lifespan of a honey bee in the colony is the role and the time of the year in which it was born.
A queen honey bee can live up to 6 years provided no external factor intervenes to kill it. A worker bee can live between 2 to 6 weeks if born in spring or summer. On the other hand, a worker bee born in the autumn season is likely to live for 20 weeks. A drone honey bee has a lifespan of 30-55 days.
How Long Do Worker Bees Live?
Most bees in a beehive comprise worker bees, and there are approximately 50,000 to 60,000 workers in a large colony. They perform jobs like foraging for food, protecting the hive from predator attacks, caring for the queen, and hunting for food for the larvae.
Worker bees are busy bees that spend their lives in activities inside the beehive, and the lifespan of a worker bee depends on the time of the year it was born. If a worker bee is born in the spring/summer season, it will live between 2 to 6 weeks; if it is born in autumn, it will live for 20 weeks. This means that worker bees are one of the busiest in the bee colony.
This age difference is because worker bees born in summer have to do a lot of work from the start. After spending a few first weeks inside the hive, they head outside the hive to collect pollen and fly from flower to flower. These worker bees are also responsible for looking after the brood. As a result of the intense work they do, summer-born bees have a shorter lifespan and tend to die early than other bees.
Autumn-born bees stay inside their hive for the winter. Unlike summer-born bees, they do not have to take care of the brood and do not forage for food. They are only responsible for huddling around the queen, so she stays warm and protected. Once spring comes, these bees start their foraging duties.
How Long Do Drone Bees Live?
Out of all the honey bees, drone bees have the shortest lifespan of 3 weeks to 3 months. The short lifespan of a drone bee is because they have only one role to play–to mate with the queen. In the mating process, the reproductive parts and organs of the drone bee get torn from its body, and it dies. Those drones that did not mate in the summer/spring season stay in the hive until the arrival of winter. On the arrival of winter, the worker bees kick the drone bees out to save food for others. Consequently, they die from a lack of food and no shelter.
Drone bees resemble worker bees in a way that they hatch from unfertilized eggs and feed on royal jelly for the first few days of their lives. After that, they spin cocoons and spend some time growing into their full adult forms. This is where the difference between worker bees and drone bees becomes evident.
After they emerge from their cocoons, they are “adopted” by worker bees who feed and protect them. Newborn drones cannot feed themselves and have to rely on females until they learn how to forage in honey stores. Even then, they are largely dependent on female drones for food. However, these drones are driven out of the hive in winter when food supplies are scarce.
How Long Do Bumblebees Live?
Bumblebees are friendly, and large bees were often seen lurking around flowers in the spring season. They have smaller colonies than honey bees, 50 to 400 bees in one colony, and longer lifespans than honey bees. However, bumblebees nest on the grounds, not in hives, unlike honey bees. The different types of bumblebees are:
- Queen Bumblebee
A queen bumblebee emerges in early spring and has a lifespan of one year if they manage to stay unharmed and uninfected. A queen bumblebee lays approximately 5-6 eggs in her first brood, and female worker bees emerge from these eggs. In late summer, a queen bumblebee lays both male and female eggs. The male bees find new queens for mating, while female bees become queen bees and mate with male bees before hibernating underground for winter.
- Worker Bumblebee
A worker bumblebee lives for up to six weeks, and the worker bees, which spend time foraging for food and shelter, live longer than those who spend their lives in the hives.
- Male Bumblebee
Male bumblebees, also known as drones, live for about two weeks. Unlike virgin queens, they do not hibernate for winters but are born at the same time as the queens. They have a shorter lifespan because they die after mating.
How Long Do Solitary Bees Live?
Solitary bees, as the name implies, are independent bees that do not move in a colony and lead their lives differently than the social honey bees. Solitary bees are carpenter bees, sweat bees, and mason bees; their lifespan is only about one year. Additionally, solitary bees are not as defensive about their nests as honey bees are and would abandon them if danger arose. Each nest of the solitary bees contains only a few bees, and they lead a solitary life, with only one female per nest for reproduction.
- Worker Solitary Bees
Worker solitary bees live for about one year and do not support a large colony or a hive. However, all solitary bees are worker bees who do vital jobs like hunting and foraging.
- Female Solitary Bees
A solitary female bee is tasked with the important task of building a nest. As soon as the place for building her nest is decided, she begins to excavate a tunnel for laying her eggs.
- Queen Solitary Bees
A solitary female bee lays eggs in the space she creates. She can live through most of the summers after she lays eggs, while subordinate queens can live up to three years if they change their lifestyle to a social one.
FAQs
What is the difference between a honey bee and a bumblebee?
Although honeybees and bumblebees may look the same, there are some stark differences between the two of them. There are more than 250 species of bumblebees in the world, while the number of honeybee species is only one. A honey bee lives in well-constructed colonies which contain thousands of other bees and also produce surplus amounts of honey. On the other hand, bumblebees have untidily constructed nests with only a few hundred bees. They produce honey that is enough for them only.
How do bees make honey?
The honey-making process starts when a bee collects a sugary liquid called nectar in its stomach. Once they have stored enough in their honey “storing” stomach, they go to their hives and transfer the nectar from bee to bee. Every bee “chews” the nectar before passing it to the next bee, thus making syrup. After it is ready, the honey syrup is stored inside the honeycomb cells.
Which bee has the longest lifespan?
The biggest bee with the longest lifespan is the Queen bee. The queen bee has a primary role in the colony, as only she has fully developed reproductive organs to lay eggs and can live up to six years. Other than this, a queen bee may lay up to 2000 eggs and produce 1 million bees during its lifetime.
How do bees communicate with each other? Bees communicate with each other by using pheromone chemicals. Another way is through a “dance” that involves a “waggling” motion to indicate to other bees about a good flower spot. This dance contains a round walk back and forth in a circle to inform other bees about a good flower patch nearby.
Conclusion
While strolling or walking outside in your garden, you might have come across bees hovering over flowers. But have you ever wondered, “how long do bees live?” the answer is that bees’ lifespans depend largely on a number of factors such as climate, human intervention, pesticides, etc. Of the 20,000 species of bees, there are different types of bees as well, and their lifespans depend on their role in the hive. Nevertheless, bees are busy creatures, so the saying “busy as a bee” fits well with them.