How many type of bees are there and their work in the beehive?

There are three types of bees in a honey bee colony. Firstly there is the queen who lays all the eggs to produce new bees and she is the only fertile female in the colony. Then there are around 400 drones in the colony. Drones are male bees and their only purpose is to mate with a virgin queen when a new one is produced after swarming.

Finally there are around 40,000 workers and as the name suggests, they do all the work in the colony, from looking after the larvae, keeping the hive clean, collecting pollen and nectar and making honey. Worker bees are infertile females.