Types of bees from www.britannica.com
The Drone Bees
Drones are the only male bees in the hive, their role is to mate with the queen. They seem to have no duties in the hive and do not forage. They do not have pollen baskets, wax glands or stingers, so therefore can not sting.
Once sexually mature, around 12 days old, they fly out of the hive looking for queen bees and will either mate with their queen or another queen from another hive. Once mating is complete the drone will die, as the penis is torn from his body after he falls away from the queen. Any drones that do not mate live for a few weeks but if conditions get tough and food storage starts to dwindle the drones are kicked out of the hive, as they have no purpose once the queen has been mated and are just taking up space and resources.
