how long to bees live
Workers live only about 6 weeks on average, and drones die immediately after mating. 1  Queen bees, however, are quite long lived compared to other insects or even other bees. Queen bees have a productive lifespan of 2-3 years, during which she may lay up to 2,000 eggs per day. Over her lifetime, she can easily produce over 1 million offspring. Though her productivity will decline as she ages, the queen honey bee can live up to 5 years.