Everyone knows that bees are very useful insects.
They are not only beneficial to people, producing delicious medicinal honey, but also actively contribute to the pollination of flowers. Let’s talk about what bees love, what foods are the basis of their diet, and what flowers attract these wonderful insects.
Honeybees
Surprisingly, the diet of small honeybees is very diverse. For a bee to be able to work properly, it needs to provide good nutrition. In summer, insects feed themselves by collecting pollen with nectar from plants. These two products are the basic component of the bee diet.
Pollen and nectar are rich in various chemical compounds, chief among which are proteins and carbohydrates for bees. They are what melliferous products are needed for the normal functioning of the endocrine system and the correct functioning of muscles. Absorbing nectar with pollen, the insect gathers strength for further medical research.
Nectar is an aromatic sugar liquid, which is emitted by the glands of flowering plants. Bees eat nectar by putting their proboscis in the middle of the flower. The content of carbohydrates in the nectar of different plants is different, so stripped workers fly from flower to flower. Nectar drops, which they love so much, serve as fuel for honey insects, giving them the necessary energy.
Pollen is also important for the life activity of bees. Apiaries’ residents eat pollen and together with it saturate their bodies not only with protein, but also with fats, sugar, and vitamins. All these substances allow honey makers to work productively, flying up to 6 thousand flowers a day.
To enrich the diet of bees, and thus increase their productivity, a beekeeper should take care of the diversity of plants around the apiary. Think of a combination of green spaces so that the flowering period does not stop from spring until late autumn. Some flowering plants are replaced by others, giving the little workers to choose the flowers they love. By the way, the variety of flowers will make the taste of honey richer.
What kind of flowers do bees like most? Try to make sure that the garden is dominated by plants specific to your area and climate. Exotic flowers, although they have an alluring scent, can be poisonous to insects.
The main factor for choosing a bee flower is the fragrance. Plants with special glands emit a pleasant scent to attract honey. So choose lilies, daffodils, jasmine, and other fragrant plants.
If you observe hard-working insects for a while, you will soon notice that they are very fond of bright colors. The juicy coloring of blossoming buds beckons like a beacon, indicating the abundance of sweet nectar. Honeybees are banned from red, so make sure that there are no plants with scarlet flowers around the apiary.
To enrich the honey with healing properties, plant plants near the hives, which are considered the most favorable for honey collection. This may be melissa, sage, oregano. These plants, in addition to their rich composition, have a lot of nectar.
Hive Stock
Flying fragrant flowers, the bee is distinguished by agility and high speed. In one minute, the honeybee has time to pollinate about 10 flowers, while taking pollen and nectar. In its hind legs, a bee has special baskets. In each of them, 20 mg of pollen is placed on average. Having filled the baskets to the end, the bee carries the collected pollen to the hive, where it continues to work with it.
From pollen, the insects produce the so-called bee bread – Bee pollen. Bee pollen is an indispensable bee food, especially in winter. This substance serves as a basis for the nutrition of larvae: bees make royal jelly from Bee pollen, which they eat on their first days. The uterus themselves all their life eat only royal jelly. It gives them enough building protein and vitamins to produce offspring.
Once back after pollination, the bee begins to press pollen into one of the cells, while wetting the particles with saliva. Enzymes contained in the salivary glands promote fermentation. After a few weeks of fermentation, all the nutrients, proteins, and vitamins are released from the pollen. After that, honey and wax seal the cells.
The nectar collected by bees turns into honey during fermentation and moisture evaporation. Their trunk contains special saliva enzymes. Mixed with nectar, the saliva triggers complex chemical processes. It turns out that honey is a concentrate of nectar, and it is also the result of fermentation. In addition to the carbohydrates that provide energy to bees, honey contains small amounts of mineral salts, organic acids, and even protein.
Once most of the moisture has evaporated from the nectar, the honeycomb seals honeycomb with wax. Honey in this form can be stored as much as you want. This is how bees provide their family with honey for the entire wintering period. Honey is the main foodstuff of bees when the flowering period ends.
When sending bees for overwintering, make sure that the hive has enough food. With a good supply of honey and bee pollen, the bee family will winter safely and be ready for the new honey collection season. An average of 20 to 30 kg of honey (depending on the region) is needed for one bee family to spend the winter. The longer the cold period lasts, the more food the bees will need.
To grow a brood a single bee family needs two honeycombs with parchment. In addition to the bee product and Bee pollen, honeybees are fed sugar syrup and medical supplements. Syrup or sugar will be needed in case of lack of honey or if it is of poor quality. Yeast, dough, milk, and caramel can be substituted for natural food. These products can make up for the necessary amount of protein, but it is better if you find real honey for the honey makers.
In summer, nectar droplets contain enough water. But in winter, honey, more concentrated, can not quench the thirst of insects. Therefore, the hives are equipped with drinkers.
Honey Bees Menu – What Does a Honey Bee Eat?
Despite their small size, honeybees produce a variety of benefits for human society, including medicinal honey. In addition, bees pollinate plants and flowers, making them an indispensable part of any garden. Although their diet is simple, it is extremely diverse. While pollen is the most important component of their diet, they also eat a variety of other plant substances, such as nectar. To keep them healthy and happy, they also need the right nutrients to ensure their colonies thrive.
In order to make their hives, honey bees eat the nectar and pollen from different flowering plants. They also collect pollen, which is an odorless powder that is produced by many flowering plants, and nectar, which is a sweet fluid found inside flower petals. The honeybee converts these sources of food into the delicious substance known as “honey.” Because of these two essential nutrients, honey bees are attracted to gardens with flowers.
The honeybees’ main diet consists of pollen and nectar from different types of flowers and shrubs. This food source is the primary source of carbohydrates for the bees, which allows them to stay active and productive. In addition to pollen, honeybees also rely on nectar as their primary source of energy. These two foods provide all the nutrition that bees need to survive and thrive. The sweet fluid is then used for other purposes, such as flight, colony maintenance, and daily activities.
A honeybee makes up to twelve trips daily, visiting thousands of flowers each day. The average bee can travel from two to five miles from its hives to gather nectar and pollen. The bee will only select one species of plant per trip. As the majority of crops in the United States are not native to this continent, bees have evolved alongside crops in other parts of the world. As such, they were brought to the United States by European settlers.
A honeybee’s diet is diverse and varied. The most important parts of a honeybee’s diet are pollen and nectar. This means that the bees need a healthy diet to function properly. While pollen is an important component of a bee’s diet, it also includes other useful ingredients. This way, the bees can produce medicinal honey and other products for human consumption. So, their diet is a crucial component of their livelihood.
When a bee comes to food, it’s important to understand that its diet is primarily composed of two components: pollen and nectar. The pollen in flowers is a dust-like substance and is essential for the bees to survive. The nectar is the sweet fluid in the flowers that a bee needs to produce honey. By collecting pollen, honey bees can also collect nectar.
While honey bees have a wide range of food preferences, they are vegetarians. They feed on pollen and nectar. They are attracted to gardens that have flowering vegetation. The pollen is a powdery substance that contains all of the essential nutrients for honey bees. Nectar is a liquid that comes from the flowers. It is used by the bees to create delicious honey. When a bee comes across the pollen, they will collect it from the flowers and then convert it into honey.
The main food of honey bees is pollen from flowers. They feed on nectar to make their honey. Their diets are rich in pollen. It is the primary food for honey bees, and it is important to provide this as much as possible for the bees. If you are a beekeeper, you can help your hives by feeding them the right foods. This will attract bees and help them survive.
While honey bees feed on pollen, they also feed on royal jelly, a white secretion that the future queen honey bees need. The royal jelly is a mixture of pollen, chemicals from worker bee glands, and other nutrients. The future queen larvae will be given royal jellies during their development. The jelly helps the bees reproduce, and it is a source of food and medicine for humans.
