The Queen Bee
Each colony has only one queen, except during and a varying period following swarming preparations or supersedure. Because she is the only sexually developed female, her primary function is reproduction. She produces both fertilized and unfertilized eggs, without the queens constant egg laying the entire bee colony would die. The queen also enforces the social order of the hive, she gives off the pheromone that lets all of the other bees know that everything is good in the hive, if the queen is not around the other bees get confused, she can lay egg 1,000-2,000 per day, she can live for around 2-3 years. It is the worker bees that develop the larvae into queens by continuing to feed them royal jelly, which triggers an extended development as a pupa. A queen is easily distinguished from other members of the colony. Her body is normally much longer than either the drone’s or worker’s, especially during the egg-laying period when her abdomen is greatly elongated.
The Drone
Drones are the male bees of the colony. Since they do not have ovipositors, they also do not have stingers. Drones do not work like worker bees their only job is to mate with the queen and dies after mating if they do not die during mating cycle they are cast out of their hive to starve to death in the fall. Drones lifespan is 40-50 days.
The worker Bee
Workers are the smallest and constitute the majority of bees occupying the colony. They are sexually undeveloped females and under normal hive conditions do not lay eggs. Worker Bees are equipped with stingers that result in their death after they sting. Workers have specialized structures, such as brood food glands, scent glands, wax glands, and pollen baskets, which allow them to perform all the labors of the hive. They clean and polish the cells, feed the brood, care for the queen, remove debris, handle incoming nectar, build beeswax combs, guard the entrance, and air-condition and ventilate the hive during their initial few weeks as adults. Later as field bees they forage for nectar, pollen, water, and propolis (plant sap). The life span of the worker bees is about 1-4 months