Is it true that if a bee stings you that bee instantly dies?
Instantly? No… Soon? Yes.
But that sting does cause the bee to die?
In the case of honeybees, yes. Not sure about other types of bees.
It depends. 
If the barbs get stuck and the bee eviscerates itself leaving the venom sac behind, yes, it is always fatal. If the sting just scratches the surface and the venom sac isn’t attached, the bee will usually live. Bees tend to die when they sting mammals, because of our thick skin catching the barbs. However, if they sting other insects, which have a relatively thin layer of chitin (instead of skin), they may live perfectly healthy lives afterwards.
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Yes but the queen’s sting doesn’t have a barb so she can sting more than once.
Bees don’t have a single brain, rather a series of ganglia that control movement and vital function. That’s why an eviscerated bee or a bee without an abdomen can walk about and live for hours after
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I think we have some humans who run on ganglia too. To all intents and purposes, they appear totally brain-dead, but they still walk around making stupid comments and running various countries… 
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That was so funny. I nearly lost my wine on the keyboard
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Yes, but what about the people who vote them in:)
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The poor old drones also die soon after mating. Pretty gory stuff.
…and why are they the only ones on the ballot…
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They actually die ‘while’ mating. They faint, indicated by the stilling of their wings as they cling to the queen. As they drop off the queen their reproductive organs are torn out - which keep pumping sperm until empty - very much like the sting of the female bees.
All while a little swarm of drones continue to circle the queen and are ready to hop on the second their predecessor is done. As happy as they’re to do it it must be quite a way to go ^^
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Well thank you for that, I think my cup of tea just curdled.
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I used to live where you are. Keep in contact.
Keep observing your bees and connect your observations to the weather and environment. There is much to learn, observe to become intuitive.
snickers I’m sorry, I admit to enjoy learning those facts because men are so easy to squick with them 
Sorry about your tea though 
Not mead? Surely mead… (20 characters)
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It was probably stout, actually. Or some other really dark, room temperature, beer-ish kind of brew from grains. If I recall correctly. But then again, I am somewhat senile and unreliable on occasion!
Was it also flat…?
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