THE DRONE 97 
In neglected apiaries it is not uncommon to find hives with 
from one-fourth to more than one-half of the comb surface com- 
posed of drone cells. This insures that a large number of drones 
will be reared during the active season. <A surplus of drones 
who are loafers and consumers instead of producers will turn 
what might have been a profitable colony into a non-producer, 
or even one that will require feed to winter successfully. 
These male bees consume quantities of stores, not only during 
the period of their development, but in the mature state as well. 
They are helpless fellows, not even able to feed themselves. 
The drone is much larger and heavier in appearance than a 
worker. He has aptly been called a corpulent fellow. He has 
no sting and flies with a large buzz, which tends to frighten the 
novice who is unable to recognize his true character. The period 
of development is longer than that of either the queen or the 
worker. Three days is the period required for the egg to hatch 
as with the others. About seven days are spent in the larval 
period, and fourteen days elapse from the time the cells are 
sealed until the transformation is complete. 
The act of copulation is fatal to the drone. As previously 
stated, the organs of generation remain attached to the queen for 
several hours, until the entire supply of seminal fluid enters 
the sac of the queen. After this is accomplished the attendant 
workers remove the parts from her. 
The life term of the drone is very uncertain. If conditions are 
favorable he may live for several weeks, or maybe months, until 
by chance his life is terminated by meeting with a queen, or 
perhaps by accident. Otherwise he may live until the close 
of the honey harvest leads his provident sisters to accomplish 
his destruction. While the worker may sometimes sting the 
drones to death, it seems to be more often accomplished by sim- 
ply refusing to provide them with food, and by driving them 
from the hive when they soon perish. 
Drone traps are on the market to enable the bee-keeper to 
reduce the number of boarders in the hives. However, it is much 
7 
