Drones are the colony's haploid males, reared from unfertilised eggs and built for a single purpose: mating. They have no stinger, cannot forage or feed themselves, but carry unusually large compound eyes and antennae tuned to find a queen mid-air. Each afternoon in season, drones from many colonies gather in the same aerial spot year after year — a drone congregation area (DCA) — where virgin queens fly out to mate.
A queen typically mates with 12–20 drones from several DCAs over one or more flights, storing sperm for her entire multi-year life — this genetic mixing is the colony's main defence against inbreeding and disease.
A 3D drone congregation area sits above a honeybee hive: fly the queen's nuptial flight, watch drones orbit and chase, and switch to autumn to see the colony evict its males.
Drones gather at a fixed aerial site (a DCA) rather than at the hive to mate; only the drone that catches the queen mates, and mating kills him. In autumn, workers evict remaining drones since they no longer contribute to winter survival.
Pick a season, set drone population and DCA altitude, then click "Launch queen's nuptial flight" to trigger a chase-and-mate cycle. Switch to Autumn to watch drones get pushed out of the hive entrance instead.
Drones develop from unfertilised eggs (haploid) and have no father, only a grandfather — a genetic quirk called haplodiploidy that is central to honeybee social evolution.