Glossary
The male honey bee, larger than workers with distinctive large eyes that nearly touch at the top of the head. Drones have one biological purpose: to mate with virgin queens from other colonies. They cannot sting, do not forage, do not build comb, and do not feed themselves. Despite this apparent laziness, drones play a critical genetic role.
Drones develop from unfertilized eggs (they are haploid, carrying only the queen's genetics) and take 24 days from egg to adult (versus 21 days for workers). They are larger than workers, with bigger eyes (for spotting queens in drone congregation areas), no stinger, and a specialized reproductive anatomy.
A mature drone's sole activity is flying to drone congregation areas on warm afternoons, hovering with hundreds of drones from other colonies, waiting for a virgin queen to pass through. If a drone mates, the act is fatal: his reproductive organs are torn from his body during copulation and he dies instantly.
Drones that fail to mate (the vast majority) return to the hive for food and rest, flying out again on subsequent warm afternoons. This cycle continues throughout spring and summer. Drones eat colony resources without contributing labor.
In autumn, as resources decline, worker bees evict drones from the hive in the drone eviction. Workers stop feeding drones, harass them, and physically drag them to the entrance and push them out. Unable to feed themselves, evicted drones die within hours. A colony entering winter with drones is a warning sign of queenlessness.
Genetic diversity. By mating with drones from many different colonies at drone congregation areas, virgin queens acquire the genetic diversity that makes their colonies resilient to disease and environmental stress. Drones are the colony's genetic investment in future queens.
No. Drones have no stinger. The stinger is a modified ovipositor (egg-laying organ), so only females possess one. You can safely handle drones with bare hands.
Drones are noticeably larger than workers with disproportionately large eyes that nearly touch at the top of the head, and a blunt, rounded abdomen (no stinger point). Their flight is louder and clumsier than worker flight.
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