In order for there to be a “queen bee,” there must be a colony of bees. But not all bees live in colonies. There are species of bees called “solitary” bees. Among them there are only two kinds of bees, the males and the egg-laying females.

But bees that live in colonies, called “social bees,” have a third form of bee known as “workers.” The workers are really female bees that ordinarily do not lay eggs. So in a colony of social bees we have the workers, the males, who are called “drones,” and the one egg laying female, the mother of the colony, who is called the “queen.”