Drowned Drone

I went out to the hive the other day to check things out. We have been having crazy weather, rain, rain and more rain. But if the sun comes out even for just a few minutes the bees are itching to get out so the fly out and get to work. But generally it just starts raining again. I noticed a very soggy bee on its back at the entrance to the hive. I was about to flick it onto the ground when I saw it moving. It's wings were stuck to the hive, those H bonds are a force be reckoned with when you are a small bee. It was a drone, so I quickly put my finger onto its legs so it could grab on. He did and I took him inside and blotted him off with a Kleenex. Those hairs can hold a lot of water! His legs weren't working right, so I just held him and kept drying him off.


Drones have HUGE eyes for spotting virgin queens as they leave the nest. They also have long back legs for grabbing on to her. Unfortunately they do not live long past the mating experience as their male appendage is torn from their body after copulation. They have no idea this will happen of course, so I guess they probably die fairly happy.


Another way to tell them apart is the noise they make when they fly. They sound like an old fighter jet coming in for landing. They are also kind of clumsy because they are so big and heavy.


Once he started to feel better we took him outside and like that - he took off due east.


I had been waiting for a drone to grab and play with, so it worked out well for both of us.