Why does a honeybee queen mate with more than one drone?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

bees on a honeycomb — Beekeeping Bees on a honeycomb.

In the context of beekeeping, a honeybee queen mates with multiple drones—a behavior known as polyandry—primarily to maintain and increase genetic diversity within the colony.123

This increased genetic variation provides significant advantages for the colony's overall fitness and survival. Colonies that are genetically diverse exhibit improved characteristics, such as larger population sizes, more robust foraging activity, and better food supplies, all of which favor the successful production of new queens and the formation of new colonies.3

By mating with multiple drones, the queen ensures that the worker bees in her colony are more genetically varied, which helps the colony adapt to environmental challenges and improves its collective efficiency.34