How do bees start life?

Honey bees start life as an egg laid by the queen in a hexagonal cell within the hive. After three days the egg changes into a larva and the other bees feed it with pollen and then seal the cell with wax. After a total of 21 days from the time that the egg was laid, a fully formed worker bee will eat the wax capping and emerge from the cell. In the case of a drone (male bee) the time taken is 24 days.