Honey bees produce honey which is a very important food product. It not only lures us with its sweetness, but also protects us with its medicinal qualities. While they make an important food produce, have we ever stopped to wonder what do they feed on?
Feeding the Honey Bee Colony
It is an amazing fact that honey bees travel long distances to be able to find the right surroundings and ambience to thrive and grow. It could be the flora and fauna as well as the right surroundings where they can build a hive and help their young ones to grow. The worker bees actually do all the hard work to build the hive as well as feed the rest of the colony, by collecting nectar from flowers. After consuming what they can, they also store the excess in their crop, that they later regurgitate to feed the rest of the bees. This then is mixed with other natural chemicals from their body and left to become thicker or solidify. It is stored with the natural beeswax to be used as and when needed by the bee family.
How Bees Select Flowers
It is a known fact that honey bees help in the growth and evolution of plants and flowers. They are instrumental in collecting pollen and transferring it to another, therefore aiding in their growth. As they do so honey bees move from and within different fruits and vegetables that provide them the natural enzymes and food that helps them survive. It is interesting to note how the bees target a flower to get the nectar. The color and the shape of the flower play an integral part in the selection process. While colors attract the bees, they are blind to the color red. Amazingly Mother Nature makes sure that the flowers have ultra violet patches that work for the bees. They get attracted to those patches working as guides or indicators of nectar.
The bees also collect food from open food cans or bottles, mainly liquid sweet stuff. They can be aggressive enough to sting if they are disturbed in their course of looking for food. With that said, they also collet water which they use to dilute the honey in order to feed the larvae.
No doubt the honey bees are the most hardworking insects and work at getting their own food in the most distinct of ways.
- Signs Of A Wasp Nest - November 14, 2014
- What Do Bees Eat? - March 11, 2014
- The Magnificence of the Honey Bee Colony - February 10, 2014
