"Joan F (MI)" wrote in message
...
She? I thought the queen bee stayed in the hive and laid eggs while the
worker who are all males went out gathering pollen and nectar.

The workers are infertile females. The queen stays in the nest between her
mating flight and swarming. there are relatively few drones, who are male,
their promary function is to fertilise a virgin queen from another hive.

They may have other functions, a colony with no drones doesn't do as well as
one with.

Mary