Male honey bees are called drones. Drones are easy to spot: they are larger than workers, have huge eyes that almost touch, and have a barrel-shaped abdomen with a blunt tip, unlike the pointy abdomens of their sisters.

Drones make up a small percentage of bees in a colony. Many factors contribute to the number of drones a colony will raise. Larger, healthier colonies will raise more drones, about 4.8% of the total population.¹ Weaker colonies raise fewer², as survival of the colony is the top priority, and reproduction (where the drones come in) is second.

Male honey bees have one biological imperative: to mate with a queen. They don’t contribute in any discernible way to the daily life of their colony; their sole purpose is to spread the genetics of the queen mother. Unequipped for defense, they can’t even sting.