On The Art Trail with Peter Buwalda; "For the Love of Honeybees #1, Girls Rule!"

More from my series of honeybees that I painted for the Canadian National Agriculture Museum in 2010. Today I am going to point out something I had mistakenly thought was common knowledge about our little friends, but turns out many people might not be aware, that ALL honeybee workers are female. The males are called Drones, and actually look quite different (larger, bigger eyes, NO stinger). 95% of the hive is comprised of females,  and only about 5% are males! The males are for mating with other queens, and that is it. If they get a chance to mate they die. In the winter they get kicked out of the hive and starve. The females do it all : collect pollen and nectar, dry, store & cap ie: make the honey, raise the brood, build the honeycomb, even feed the boys, to name a few !! Only the queen stays in the hive, only leaving once in her life to mate early in her adult life. It is a sophisticated and very complicated Matriarchy that I look forward to sharing more fun facts about! Talk about Girl Power!