The drone is the male animal in honey bees. Sometimes the term is also used for bumblebees, social bees and wasps (including hornets). These state-building species from the Hymenoptera order have three distinct morphs: Queen, worker and drone.

The body shape of drones is usually larger and stockier than that of a worker, they have no sting and the compound eyes are often larger and more powerful. When laying eggs, the queen controls whether an egg is fertilised or not. Drones develop from unfertilised eggs, workers and queens from fertilised ones.

In the year-round state-forming honey bees, drones only appear in the colony's reproductive phase, the swarming season, from about April to August, but mainly in May and June. For breeding, the workers create larger honeycomb cells. By the middle of the year, a strong, healthy colony may have several hundred to a thousand drones. The drones do not participate in any work in the hive or in collecting pollen and nectar. Unlike the males of solitary bee species, they are not even able to take nectar from flowers, but rely on the social exchange of food (trophallaxis) in the colony for their own nutrition. After sexual maturity, they fly out regularly to search for queen bees capable of mating.
Text source: Wikipedia