Bumble bees have a queen that produces drones, workers and other queens. However, the colonies are annual, unlike the honey bee's year-round colonies. Queens emerge from their winter resting stage, called diapause, each spring and begin foraging for nectar and pollen. Bumble bees hold pollen on their hind legs like the honey bee. The queen uses the collected pollen and nectar to rear workers.
Worker bees are non-reproductive females.
Once the new workers begin to forage, the queen stops foraging and stays in the nest to produce more brood. The workers feed and care for the developing brood. Towards the end of summer the colony begins to produce reproductive queens and drones. When these reproductives mature, they leave the colony and mate. The new queens then find a suitable overwintering site and go into diapause over the winter.