A Birthday Buzz: What Bees Can Teach Us About Time
- Nov 12
- 7 min read
Hey Honey Lovers!
We are celebrating a birthday this week here at Fingerlakes Honey Company. Happy Birthday November 13th to Beekeeper Stacie! As we get ready to celebrate, we've been thinking about time- how it passes, how quickly seasons change, and what we can learn from the bees that share our world. Every member of the hive has its own life span, rhythm, and purpose. Together, they keep the colony thriving year after year, season after season. So let's celebrate Stacie's birthday by learning about the life cycle of the honey bee. Grab your favorite mug and a warm Cinnamon Honey Birthday Latte, and settle in for this week’s blog where we’re talking bees, birthdays, and the sweet rhythm of life in the hive.
🐝LIFE CYCLE OF HONEY BEES🐝
From Egg to Bee: The Stages of Development
Just like birthdays mark another trip around the sun, every bee’s life begins with its own small milestone, the hatching of an egg. Inside the hive, the queen’s daily egg-laying sets thousands of tiny new beginnings in motion.
Each bee goes through four main stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Egg (Days 1–3): Every new life starts as a tiny white egg, smaller than a grain of rice, laid carefully by the queen in a wax cell.
Larva (Days 4–9): Worker bees feed the larvae a rich diet of royal jelly for future queens and a mix of pollen and honey for workers and drones. These larvae grow rapidly, shedding their skin several times.
Pupa (Days 10–20): The cell is capped with wax, and inside, the transformation begins. The larva spins a cocoon and changes shape, developing wings, eyes, and legs — a quiet metamorphosis hidden from view.
Adult Bee (Day 21 and beyond): When ready, the new bee chews her way out of the cell, joining the bustling rhythm of the hive. Workers might start as cleaners, then move on to nursing, guarding, and eventually foraging. Queens emerge earlier (around Day 16) to take up their royal role, while drones take about 24 days to fully develop.
This cycle repeats thousands of times, each generation ensuring the next is ready to carry the hive forward. It’s a reminder that even the tiniest beginnings, like an egg no bigger than a pinhead, can grow into something powerful and purposeful. Now let's move on to the honey bee life spans.
🥳HOW LONG DO HONEY BEES LIVE?🥳
👑The Queen: Long Live the Queen 👑
The queen bee is truly the heart of the hive. She can live anywhere from two to five years, which is impressive compared to the rest of her colony! Her royal duties begin when she’s chosen as a larva and fed a steady diet of royal jelly, a nutrient-rich substance made by nurse bees. Once she emerges, she takes a single mating flight and stores enough genetic material to lay up to 2,000 eggs a day during peak season.
The queen’s pheromones guide and calm the colony, keeping everyone working in harmony. As long as she’s healthy, the hive thrives. When her productivity fades, the workers quietly raise a new queen, continuing the cycle of life.
💪The Workers: The Powerhouses of the Hive 💪
Worker bees, all female, make up the majority of the colony. Their lifespan depends on the time of year. In summer, when the hive is bustling and nectar is flowing, workers live about five to six weeks. They literally work themselves to exhaustion, performing every imaginable job: cleaning, nursing larvae, guarding the hive, building comb, and foraging for nectar and pollen.
But in winter, the story changes. The hive slows down, and the workers live longer, up to four or six months, clustering around the queen to keep her warm. Their extended lives and teamwork keep the colony alive until spring returns.
They remind us that even short lives can have incredible purpose, and that rest is just as important as hard work.
🐝The Drones: A Short but Essential Role 🐝
Drones, the male bees of the hive, have one job: to mate with a virgin queen. They don’t collect nectar or pollen and don’t have stingers. During the warm months, they live for about eight weeks, spending their days in flight waiting for a chance to mate. If successful, their life ends shortly afterward- nature’s dramatic mic drop.
By late fall, drones are gently (or not-so-gently) pushed out of the hive, since they consume resources the colony needs for winter survival. Their short existence ensures that life in the hive continues, generation after generation.
🌼The Circle of the Hive’s Life 🌼
Each bee- queen, worker, and drone- plays a part in the hive’s rhythm. Their different lifespans might seem unfair at first glance, but together they create balance and sustainability. When one generation ends, the next begins seamlessly, keeping the colony strong.
It’s a powerful reminder that life’s value isn’t measured in length, but in purpose. Every bee contributes something essential, and every moment, no matter how brief, leaves behind a trace of sweetness. Even after a bee’s short life, the honey remains a golden legacy of all that hard work.
🍰Celebrate a Birthday the Fingerlakes Honey Company Way 🍰
If you’d like to celebrate life’s sweet moments (big or small) the way we do around here, try baking up a batch of these Honey Butter Birthday Cupcakes. They’re simple, golden, and absolutely irresistible!
Makes 12 cupcakes
CUPCAKES
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Fingerlakes Honey Company honey
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Honey Buttercream Frosting
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup honey plus 2 tbsp
4-5 cups powdered sugar
milk as needed for thinning out frosting
CAKE
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake papers.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (in stand mixer with paddle attachment if available).
Mix in honey, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
Mix into the batter until just blended.
Scoop the batter into the cups evenly.
Bake Cupcakes in 350° for about 20 minutes or when the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Cool on wire rack
Honey Buttercream Frosting
Cream together the butter and the honey for 2 minutes (in stand mixer with paddle attachment if available).
Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar. Start on low speed on the mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. Use milk to thin out frosting to reach desired consistency.
Spread or pipe frosting over cooled cupcakes and drizzle a little extra honey, edible gold dust, and gold sprinkles on top for sparkle!
🎁Sweet Gift Ideas for the Bee or Honey Lover in Your Life 🎁
If you know someone who loves bees as much as we do (or if you’re treating yourself, which we highly recommend), here are some honey-sweet gift ideas straight from the hive:
🍯 Raw Honey Gift Sets – Sample the seasons with our local honeys, each with its own unique flavor and floral notes. We also offer Honey Bee Gift Boxes, Gen X Honey, Infused Honeys, as well as many other items that special person will adore.
🍓Honey Jams & Jellies– Taste the freshness of our all natural jams and jellies made with 100% raw honey. Putting them in a gift basket or on a party charcuterie board, will make the celebration a memorable one.
🌿 Dried Herb Items– Perfect for your birthday celebration or as a gift, our dried herb dip mixes, teas, and more are a sweet way to show you care.
🕯️ Beeswax Ornaments & Candles – Handcrafted from our own beeswax for a naturally golden glow. Give a keepsake they will treasure.
➕ Much More Made By The Bees– Check out all we offer that is made by the bees on our Hive Store page.
🐝 Bee-Themed Kitchen Goods – Honeybee mugs, tea towels, or a cutting board add charm to any kitchen.
👕One-of-a-Kind Merchandise- wow that special someone with our originally designed tshirts, hoodies, and more.
🎁Add-on Gift Card & Wrapping- your special gift is sure to stand out with our greeting cards and gift wrapping.
💝Adopt a Bee or Hive- a sweet gift for the bee enthusiast in your life. It also helps our busy ladies.
💛 eGift Cards – When you just can’t choose, let them pick their own Fingerlakes favorites.
Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, milestone, or just another day in the sunshine, these little gifts help share the love (and support local bees in the process).
➕ Much More Made By The Beekeepers– Check out all we offer that is made by the beekeepers on our Mercatile page.
🎂🐝Reflecting on Birthdays & Bees 🎂🐝
As we celebrate Stacie's birthday this week, we can’t help but think about the lessons our bees quietly teach us. From the long-lived, steady queen to the hardworking, short-lived workers and the bold, fleeting drones, each life has its purpose and rhythm. Birthdays are a little like that- a chance to reflect on the past, appreciate the present, and look forward to the future. Whether your year is long and steady, short and busy, or somewhere in between, it’s the sweetness you leave behind, just like the honey from a hardworking hive, that truly matters. So if you see a honey bee or Stacie this week, bee sure to her a happy birthday!
How do you celebrate your birthday? Let us know in the comments below.
Until Next Time—Stay Sweet!
Tom and Stacie
Tom and Stacie, are co-owners of Fingerlakes Honey Company located in the bee-utiful Fingerlakes region of New York State. When they are not tending to all things bees, they enjoy spending time with their grown children, their dog, and lots of chickens on their homestead. They love learning more about the bees they foster and helping others to learn more about them as well.
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