Drones

I thought I'd do a post on drones, the men of the hive. 99% of a hive are female anddrones are from unfertilised egg. Unlike their female counterparts they have no stinger and don't collect nectar or pollen, their primary function is to mate with a Queen. They have big eyes and are quite large and stout compared to the female honey bee. Drones are only made in the summer months and drift from hive to hive, eating honey and basically chilling out until they find a virgin queen to mate with. Drone brood is very different to that of worker bees and has a very popcorn like appearance, normal brood is capped flat, drones stick out as if they are too big to fit in the cells!

Drone cells with one or two making an appearance

This is worker brood you can see how flat it is, especially on the left, compared to drone brood

Drones that were successful in mating come to a swift end, during their very short (5 second or so performance)  they are paralysed and the explosion of semen is so violent they end up parting with their penis and die shortly after. The number of drones in a season always outnumber that of the virgin queens (although they mate with various drones on their mating flights) any 'leftover' drones are kicked out of the hive towards autumn and will inevitably die. So although their lives are short they play a vital role and I find them great- mainly because you can pick them up without fear of being stung!

Drone among workers