Drones are the male bees and although slightly larger than worker bees, they are not as long as the queen. They have no sting and their only function is to mate with the queens. They usually do not mate with the queen of the hive they live in. Instead, they fly far away to mate with queens from other hives. They only live in their colony during summer times and depend on the workers to feed them as their tongues are not long enough to gather nectar. After summer, the workers stop feeding them and drag them out of the hive, leaving them to die.