Drones – an indispensable luxury …

To rear drones or not to rear drones – that is the question posed to our bees with the return of the favourable season. Within a colony, males are indeed a luxury: they are far more costly to rear than workers. And the expense does not end at emergence: as adults, drones largely remain dependent on their sisters. In addition, they contribute nothing to foraging activities and very little to hive maintenance. Yet this luxury is necessary: the sole function of males, the transmission of genes, lies at the very heart of the biological meaning of life. Maximising the chances of reproduction while preserving those of survival – it is this subtle balance, to which both the queen and her workers contribute, that we propose to explore today.