This page, and the pages linked from it show the yearly life-cycle of bumblebee colony. You can either follow the life-cycle in chronological order by looking at all of the pages in turn, or you can skip to whatever part you are interested in by clicking the links on the left.
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The 4 stages in the life cycle of a bumblebee colony
- Queen emerges from hibernation and starts new colony by herself.
- Workers (females) are produced and start to forage; the colony develops and grows.
- Unfertilised eggs (males) are laid and worker larva develop into new queens.
- Males and new queens mate, the colony disintegrates, the old queen, workers and males die, and new queens hibernate.
Acknowledgements: http://www.bumblebee.org