A hard shell can be removed from the insect but the soft shell is the exoskeleton, thus part of the insect. Scale may be round, oval, smooth, wrinkled, brown, dark red, black, yellow, white, pink, gray, green etc. She will develop the protective covering and lose the use of her legs. She will remain on that spot for the rest of her life. They move about actively and mate with stationary females and die soon after.
Females lay eggs or some give birth to living young and die.
Eggs and the young stay with the dead mother under the protective shell for a little while, then crawl to find a place of their own. This normally happens in May and June and again in August and September, when there is more than one generation. Some species overwinter as eggs under the shell, others as nymphs in cracks in bark or some as fertilized females. These can be seen with a magnifying glass especially in May, June or July and August depending on the species and the region. To see if crawlers are present, trap them on double-sided tape wrapped around some infested branches.