Honeybees: Sexes and Castes

by Chris Ragg

Castes

• In any honeybee hive, there are three different castes of bee: Queen, Drone, and Worker.

Castes

• In any honeybee hive, there are three different castes of bee: Queen, Drone, and Worker.

Workers

• The worker bees make up the majority of the hive.

• If you’ve ever been stung by a honeybee, it’s been a worker.

• They’re the ones who go collect the pollen and nectar that make honey.

• All workers are female.

Workers

Notice all the pollen that’s stuck to the bee’s torso. That’s how she’ll transport it back to the hive!

Queens

• The queen is the most important bee of the hive, because she lays all the eggs.

• As brood, worker bees can be made into queens by eating lots of lots of Royal Jelly, which is secreted from the heads of worker bees. Weird!

• Sometimes, queens will lay up to 2,000 eggs per day!

• The queen is the longest bee in the hive, and has a little black jewel just behind her head.

Queens

Ain’t she beautiful?

Drones

• Drones are the only males in the hive.• Drones are also the only honeybees that don’t

have stingers.• The drones are essentially male concubines for

the queen—they exist only so a virgin queen can have sex with them.

• If food stores get low, sometimes worker bees will drag the drones outside and let them die, rather than feed them their precious remaining honey.

Drones

• The drone is bigger than the worker bees around him but, without a stinger, considerably less harmful.

• Drones are, in a way, the outcasts of the hive.

Of course, all three kinds of bees are necessary for a hive to thrive and, if possible, reproduce and split into a second hive.

Thanks for Reading!

Checking out one of my hives

Harvesting Honey