![Apis mellifera(js)02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Apis_mellifera%28js%2902.jpg)
For
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...
s, their forage or food supply consists of
nectar
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...
and
pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
from
blooming
Bloom or blooming may refer to:
Science and technology Biology
* Bloom, one or more flowers on a flowering plant
* Algal bloom, a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system
* Jellyfish bloom, a collective n ...
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
s within flight range. The forage sources for
honey bee
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current co ...
s are an important consideration for
beekeeper
A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees.
Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...
s. In order to determine where to locate hives for maximum
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
production and
brood
Brood may refer to:
Nature
* Brood, a collective term for offspring
* Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents
* Bee brood, the young of a beehive
* Individual broods of North American Periodical Cicadas:
** Brood X, the largest b ...
one must consider the off-season. If there are no honey flows the bees may have to be fed. Bees that are used for commercial pollination are usually fed in the holding yards. Forage is also significant for
pollination management
Pollination management is the horticultural practices that accomplish or enhance pollination of a crop, to improve yield or quality, by understanding of the particular crop's pollination needs, and by knowledgeable management of pollenizers, p ...
with other bee species.
Nectar contains
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
s that are the primary source of energy for the bees' wing
muscle
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...
s and for heat for honey bee colonies for winter. Pollen provides the
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
and
trace mineral
In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element required as an essential nutrient by organisms to perform functions necessary for life. However, the four major structural elements in the human body by weight (oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, ...
s that are mostly fed to the brood in order to replace bees lost in the normal course of life cycle and colony activity.
As a rule of thumb the foraging area around a
beehive
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
extends for , although bees have been observed foraging twice and three times this distance from the hive. Experiments have shown that beehives within 4 miles of a food source will gain weight, but beyond that the energy expended is greater than that gained during the foraging flight.
[Eckert, JE, The flight range of the honeybee, Journal of Agricultural Research, v. 47, no. 8, p 257-285 (1933)] Foraging at extreme distances wears out the wings of individual bees, reduces the life expectancy of foraging bees and therefore the efficiency of the colony.
The minimum temperature for active honeybee foraging is approximately . Full foraging activity is not achieved until the temperature rises to . There are small differences in the races of the
Western honey bee
The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for "bee", and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for "honey-bearing" or "honey carrying", ...
s at what temperature they will start foraging.
The main
nectar source
A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds.
Nectar source plants are important for beekee ...
and main
pollen source
The term pollen source is often used in the context of beekeeping and refers to flowering plants as a source of pollen for bees or other insects. Bees collect pollen as a protein source to raise their brood. For the plant, the pollinizer, this ...
differ widely with the
latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
, region,
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
and type of vegetation. Bees are able to communicate direction and distance of a food source by means of the
round dance,
waggle dance
Waggle dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. By performing this dance, successful foragers can share information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nect ...
and shaking signals.
In addition to nectar and pollen, honey bees may forage for a
honeydew source
This is a list of honeydew sources. Honeydew is a sugary excretion from plant sap sucking insects such as aphids or scales. There are many trees that are hosts to aphids and scale insects that produce honeydew
Honeydew sources
References Apido ...
in certain coniferous trees and on
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s.
One Queen bee is essential to every hive as the only individual who can lay the fertilized eggs that are necessary in order to rear new workers and new queens and is therefore necessary to the continuation of the species.
See also
*
Honeydew source
This is a list of honeydew sources. Honeydew is a sugary excretion from plant sap sucking insects such as aphids or scales. There are many trees that are hosts to aphids and scale insects that produce honeydew
Honeydew sources
References Apido ...
*
June Gap
*
List of honey plants
Honeybees usually collect nectar, pollen, or both from the following species of plants, which are called honey plants, for making honey.
Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)
*'' Avicennia nitida'' Jacq. or Avicennia ger ...
*
List of Northern American nectar sources for honey bees
The nectar resource in a given area depends on the kinds of flowering plants present and their blooming periods. Which kinds grow in an area depends on soil texture, soil pH, soil drainage, daily maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, ...
*
Melliferous flower
A melliferous flower is a plant which produces substances that can be collected by insects and turned into honey. Many plants are melliferous, but only certain examples can be harvested by honey bees, because of their physiognomy (body size and sha ...
*
Nectar source
A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds.
Nectar source plants are important for beekee ...
*
Pollen source
The term pollen source is often used in the context of beekeeping and refers to flowering plants as a source of pollen for bees or other insects. Bees collect pollen as a protein source to raise their brood. For the plant, the pollinizer, this ...
*
Regional honeys Honey comes in various types based on the region it is grown and the types of flower that provide the nectar.
Europe
There are several European honey types with PDO/PGI that are protected under EU law with '' PDO'' status. Some of the criteria for ...
References
Western honey bee behavior
+
Pollination
Sustainable gardening
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