<P> The honey bee life cycle, here referring exclusively to the domesticated Western honey bee, depends greatly on their social structure . </P> <P> Unlike a bumble bee colony or a paper wasp colony, the life of a honey bee colony is perennial . The three types of honey bees in a hive are: queens (egg - producers), workers (non-reproducing females), and drones (males whose main duty is to find and mate with a queen). Honey bees hatch from eggs in three to four days . They are then fed by worker bees and develop through several stages in the cells . Cells are capped by worker bees when the larva pupates . Queens and drones are larger than workers, so require larger cells to develop . A colony may typically consist of tens of thousands of individuals . </P> <P> While some colonies live in hives provided by humans, so - called "wild" colonies (although all honey bees remain wild, even when cultivated and managed by humans) typically prefer a nest site that is clean, dry, protected from the weather, about 20 liters in volume with a 4 - to 6 - cm entrance about 3 m above the ground, and preferably facing south or south - east (in the Northern Hemisphere) or north or north - east (in the Southern Hemisphere). </P>

How long does it take bee brood to hatch