The drones are males; though much more bulky, they are not so long as the queen, but much larger than the working bees. They live on honey, but bring none home. When the season for swarming has passed, the workers expel them from the hive, and none make their appearance till the following spring.
The working bees are the smallest in the hive and by far the most numerous; and they do the entire work of the community—they build the cells, guard the hive and the queen, collect and store the honey, elaborate the wax, feed the young, and expel the drones. The average number of these three kinds of bees in a hive is one queen, two thousand drones, and ten to twenty thousand workers, the numbers varying with the strength of the hive and the season.
For the greater part of the year the queen lays only workers’ eggs; but during the spring she also lays those which produce drones. As soon as this takes place, the workers begin to construct royal cells, in which, without discontinuing to lay the drone eggs, the queen deposits eggs which are destined to produce queens.
| QUEEN BEE. | THE DRONE. | WORKING BEE. |
QUEEN BEE.
THE DRONE.
WORKING BEE.