In a bee colony, the queen bee is the only fully developed female bee. She is responsible for laying all of the eggs that will hatch into new bees. The other female bees in the colony, called worker bees, are responsible for all of the other tasks necessary to keep the colony running, such as foraging for food, building the hive, and caring for the young bees.
The male bees in a colony, called drones, are not involved in any of the work of the colony. Their only role is to mate with the queen bee. Drones are produced by the queen bee laying unfertilized eggs. These eggs hatch into drones that are genetically identical to their mother.