Honey bee life cycle lay fertilized or unfertilized eggs. Each unfertilized egg contains a unique combination of 50% of the queen's genes and develops into a haploid drone. The fertilized eggs develop into either diploid workers or virgin queens if fed royal jelly. The average lifespan of a queen is three to four years; drones usually die upon mating or are expelled from the hive before the winter; and workers may live for a few weeks in the summer and several months in areas with an extended winter. The weight progression of the worker egg, larva: Honey bee life cycle The honey bee life
Swarming (honey bee) by one or more virgin queens. Sometimes a beehive will swarm in succession until it is almost totally depleted of workers. Swarming is honey bee colonies' natural means of reproduction. In the process of swarming the original single colony reproduces to two and sometimes more colonies. For instance, one species of honey bee that participates in such swarming behavior is "Apis cerana." The reproduction swarms of this species settle 20–30 m away from the natal nest for a few days and will then depart for a new nest site after getting information from scout bees. Scout bees search for suitable