Male Honey Bee Drones
Male honey bee drone, called drones, develop from unfertilized eggs. Fertilized eggs become females—either queens or workers.
Because drones come from unfertilized eggs, they have no father. The technical term for this is haploid, meaning they carry only half the genetic material of the queen and none from her mates. A drone’s sperm contains his entire genetic contribution—again, only half the genetic material of his mother, the queen. In a sense, when a drone mates with a queen, it is genetically similar to two queens mating. For this reason, drones are sometimes described as “flying sperm” or “flying gametes,” and the queen that produced the drone can be thought of as a “father queen.”
Drones perform little active work inside the hive. They do not collect nectar or pollen and often rely on worker bees to feed them. Traditional beekeeping wisdom has labeled drones as unproductive and a drain on resources, leading some beekeepers to try to eliminate them. However, this is a mistake. Drones serve several important and often underappreciated roles in maintaining a healthy colony.
First Line of Defense
Drone brood is typically laid around the outer edges of the brood nest. If a predator such as a bear or other wild animal attacks the hive, the drone brood is likely to be eaten first. From the colony’s perspective, if the predator can be driven away before reaching the worker brood, the hive gains a survival advantage. Since drones do not directly contribute to building or maintaining the colony, positioning their brood on the outer edges acts as a strategic buffer—essentially a sacrificial layer that protects the more valuable worker brood.
This placement also helps defend against cold temperatures. Developing brood must be kept at approximately 94°F to mature properly. Bees maintain this temperature by covering the brood with their bodies and clustering together to conserve heat. During sudden cold snaps, the cluster tightens to preserve warmth at the center of the nest. As a result, brood on the outer edges may be abandoned. Drone brood in these outer areas is more likely to be sacrificed, preserving the worker brood that will eventually gather nectar, raise young, and defend the hive. Additionally, the drone brood itself provides a layer of insulation for the worker brood closer to the center.
Hive Health
Drone brood also contributes to colony health by acting as a kind of biological filter. For example, drone brood attracts varroa mites, drawing them away from worker brood, where damage would have a greater impact on the colony’s functioning. In this way, drone brood can help reduce harm to the hive’s most productive members.
A healthy colony typically raises 10–15 percent drones. To support this, bees maintain drone comb in and around the brood nest. Although some beekeepers remove drone comb because drones are perceived as lazy or unproductive, research has shown that increased drone populations do not reduce overall productivity. In fact, colonies will attempt to maintain their preferred proportion of drone brood regardless of beekeeper intervention.
Clearly, the bees understand the importance of drones better than we often assume.
