>>105489981>>105490412male bees don't do anything but drain the hive's resources
most smart beekeepers kill off drone brood when they know they already have drones (males) in the hive, because it saves energy for the hive
the old queen never leaves the hive unless she decides to swarm (which is why many beekeepers clip the queen's wings) after her initial mating flight and swarm, assuming she wasn't just mated and returned to the same hive in the absence of another queen
there's hardly any male bees at all for this reason (they're only useful once every couple of years assuming the queen remains healthy, as they literally don't do anything but hang around the hive getting in the way), and all the other females are sterile; during mating, the drones and queens from neighboring hives fly up and mate (this kills the drone) before the queen returns to her hive
queens live about two years and mate only once in their lives
