Drone Bees: Their Important Role in the Hive

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When you picture a beehive, most people first think of the queen bee and the busyness of the worker bees.  You might not realize that worker bees are all female, every single one of them. Male honey bees are called drones, but where are they, and what do drone bees do? Many consider drones to be freeloaders, even the worker bees will treat them as such! However, drone bees have a vital role in the hive. 

What are drone bees?

Male drone bees are very distinctive.  They are large bees with blocky bodies and large eyes. They are bigger than worker bees, but slightly smaller than queen bees. Drones’ most distinctive feature is their large eyes.  Drones use their larger eyes and antennae to locate a new queen within the mating swarm. Drone honey bees do not have a stinger and can not sting. Making drones, my favorite bees! In all seriousness, they are a great way to introduce young beekeepers to bees. They can safely handle drones without worrying about being stung. 

Drone Brood

Brood are the developing stages of young bees. In a brood frame, a drone cell is larger than a worker bee cell. Not only is the cell larger in diameter, but they have a raised top making them taller as well.  During a hive inspection, drone cells are very distinctive in a brood frame because of the raised top that looks like popcorn. 

When a queen bee approaches a drone cell, she lays an unfertilized egg. Unlike worker bees that hatch from fertilized eggs, drones hatch from unfertilized eggs.

During a hive inspection, the presence of drones is a good indicator of the health of a colony.  They make up about 10 to 15% of the total population of bees in a colony. Too many drones or drone eggs may indicate you have a laying worker in your colony.  While worker bees can lay eggs, they can only lay unfertilized eggs, resulting in excessive drone brood.

Life of a Drone Bee

Drones hatch in 24 days, longer than all other castes of bees. Like all bees, they are fed royal jelly for the first three days of their lives.  After the third day, the drone and worker bees are transitioned to bee bread. Drones reach sexual maturity at 6 to 16 days old. During the spring and summer, they will begin making mating flights in search of mating swarms. 

Drones’ Primary Purpose in the Hive

The drone’s primary function in the hive is to mate with queen bees. Male drones seek drone congregation areas close to home. Drone congregation areas look like a small swarm of bees. However, they represent hundreds of honey bee colonies, each bringing their genetic diversity into the honeybee community. While a drone does not mate with the queens in his own hive, every healthy hive produces drones that pass on the genetic material of the queen to the overall honeybee community.  Queens can travel several miles in search of drone congregation areas well out of their own neighborhood to mate with bees that provide genetic diversity outside of their own family. 

During mating season, the drones leave the hive and seek a drone congregation area in search of queens on their mating flights. Typically, drones leave the hive late afternoon but can take up to four mating flights per day. On her mating flight, a single queen will mate with 10 to 20 drones,  therefore, not all queens a drone may encounter will be a virgin queen.

Mating Behavior

Bees are drawn together by pheromones. While many drones are seeking to mate with each queen, they are not fighting. If a drone is fast enough to catch the queen’s eye and has a successful mating session, the drone will die shortly thereafter. Normally, a drone’s reproductive organs are tucked inside his body. During mating, the drone extends his endophallus into the queen’s sting chamber. Upon ejaculation, the endophallus will break off, and his abdomen will be ripped open, resulting in his death. The queen will continue mating with multiple drones until she has gathered sufficient semen to fertilize thousands of eggs over the span of her lifetime. 

Are Drones Freeloaders?

Outside of mating, drones do very little in the hive to help out. Drones only contribute inside the hive by helping regulate its temperature. Bees, including the drones, flap their wings as a means of cooling the hive to maintain the optimal temperature for rearing brood. In comparison to the heavy workload of the worker bees, drone bees do indeed seem to be freeloaders, however, their genetic diversity is crucial for the survival of the species. 

Varroa Mites and Drone Brood

Drone cells provide the ideal environment for a parasite called the varroa mite.  The large size of a brood cell combined with the longer gestation period, makes drone larvae more susceptible to varroa mites. The brood cells are the perfect place for varroa mites to reproduce. Once the brood cells are capped, the varroa mites lay eggs and even feed on the developing larvae. These parasites weaken the bees and lead to a shortened lifespan.  Over time, the weakened bees can succumb to the parasites, and the entire colony can perish. 

While beekeepers check for varroa mites in a variety of ways, mites can easily be found inside the capped drone cells.  Some beekeepers will open the cells to determine the severity of a varroa mite infestation. 

How long do drones live?

Drones that were unable to mate with a queen will not find a warm welcome in the colony during the winter. To ensure the hive’s needs are met with enough resources, drone bees will be evicted at the end of the summer when mating ceases. Drones evicted from the hive will starve or freeze to death, separated from the colony. 

Gotta Love Them 

While drones don’t offer any practical help to the success of a hive, their role is anything but insignificant. The drone’s sole purpose is to ensure the survival of the species through mating and passing on his queen’s genetic material to strengthen future generations of honey bees. Genetic diversity helps produce resilient and thriving colonies that resist disease, pests, and environmental stressors. So while drones may have a singular life purpose, it’s so important, they are willing to die for it!  They may not build, defend, or forage, but without them, the future of the hive wouldn’t exist.