Bee brood

Bees show remarkable flexibility in adapting cells to a use best suited for the hive's survival.

In modern removable frame hives the nursery area is in the brood chamber, which beekeepers prefer to be in the bottom box.

Honey bees tend to greatly expand the brood chamber as the season progresses.

The screen has precisely measured open spaces through which a worker bee can pass, but not a queen.

In areas where the climate is mild, one frame may be sufficient to start a new colony, with an added queen.

Young larvae eat their way through the royal jelly in a circular pattern until they become crowded, then they stretch out lengthwise in the cell.

Soon they begin to spin a cocoon, and their older sisters cap the cell as they go into the pupa stage.

"[1] Hives that are rated for pollination purposes are generally evaluated in terms of the number of frames of brood.

Recently hatched honey bee larvae are feeding on royal jelly for three days. Only larvae selected to become queens are fed the jelly longer than three days.
Eggs and larvae (brood cell walls partially cut away)
Older larvae in open cells. On the lower left is one about to pupate. On the upper right is one partly capped.