thus the queen will be the mother of all the first males. new queens (those fertilised eggs which are fed on nutritious food) and males leave the colony when they are mature. they mate and the new queens search for a place to overwinter. then they are dormant over the winter period, starting a new nest in the spring. that completes the cycle. the queens live a number of years. the workers (unfertilized females) live about a season. drones live away from the hive(s). queens do not mate with drones from their own hive.