Lazy males can’t multi-task – and now they are paying the price!

News from the Fonmon Apiary

Glamorgan Star news 01/10/2022

2 minutes read

Harold Williams at a beekeeping training session. Background image: Adobe.

Lazy males can’t multi-task – and now they are paying the price:

With Harold Williams.

The colonies are now underway with preparations for the coming winter.

On each of my visits to the apiary I can observe drones (male bees) being expelled from the hives and the Queens are reducing the number of eggs they are laying.

Why are the drones being disposed of? Well, with swarming now being definitely on the back burner the workers (the females) have decided that these men do not have to be tolerated as part of the colony. After all, unlike the ladies they do not go out foraging, they cannot produce wax that is required for the construction of new combs and they do not have a sting that can be used in the protection of the colony.

Their sole contribution throughout their lifespan has been to be ever ready to mate with new Queens that arise due to the seasonal swarming activity of honeybee colonies. The daily activity of a drone is to avail himself of the ever-present food supply within the hive and to even beg food from the ladies themselves. He does, of course, fly out to seek Queens to mate with and if he is successful in this venture he will not be returning. Why? A successful mating with a Queen is his death knell! Once he injects her with his sperm the Queen pulls herself free of him and in so doing she tears the genitals out of him and he falls to the ground dead!

However, not all outings lead to a successful mating and so a return to the hive takes place. Now the ladies are pretty particular about who can and cannot enter their hives. If you are not a recognised member of the colony you are putting yourself in harm’s way. This does not apply if you are a drone. He will avail himself of the nearest hive and the guard bees obligingly let him enter, after all his days are numbered, are they not?

I am now in the process of removing boxes and frames of wax that are not being utilised by each colony. These must be stored securely and that will be the content of my next article, there are plenty of creatures out there that will be only too willing to use them.

🌟 This article first appeared in the printed edition of the Glamorgan Star on 22.09.22. Read it in print first!