What do bees eat?

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The only insect that humans have cherished and even kept as pets for a long time are bees. The honey bee not only pollinates wild and useful plants, but also produces wax, produces poison as a medicine and is a supplier of honey. It is not difficult for you to figure out what bees eat for this insect to survive.

Bees mostly feed on nectar and pollen.
Bees mostly feed on nectar and pollen. © Marianne_J. / Pixelio

Answer the question what Apiformes larvae eat

  • Bees include not only the well-known honeybees, but also bumblebees, wasps and hornets. Note that a common characteristic of the hymenoptera is the thin-skinned elytra of both pairs of wings.
  • Tens of thousands of animals live together in a bee colony. These include a queen who lays eggs from which the larvae hatch, workers and drones. Remember that the decision on what the bees' larvae will eat determines which group the bees will belong to.
  • In spring, the queen of the honey bee donates the different sized brood cells with fertilized eggs, from which workers and queens develop, and unfertilized eggs from which drones develop develop. The larvae that hatch after four days are first fed with a special feed from the nurse bees, royal jelly. It is important for you to know that future workers and drones will only add pollen and nectar afterwards get to eat, while the queen larvae in their queen cells continue to feed with food juice until pupation will.
  • The bumblebee queen's eggs are laid in a cave on a honeycomb made of pollen, wax and collected resin, which you call bee bread. It is interesting for you to know that the queen incubates the eggs and therefore keeps a supply of honey within easy reach for herself and the larvae.
  • The three-phase wasp shows a special behavior in brood care. After digging a passage in the ground, it captures a caterpillar that is dragged into the earth chamber and on which the egg is laid. Make sure that the hatched larva has enough food to eat.
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This is how adult bees feed

  • Bees and bumblebees feed on nectar, which is ingested with their proboscis and stored in the honey bladder. At the same time, they transport bee pollen that sticks to their legs. Note that during the return flight to the hive, the nectar is already mixed with enzymes that the animals produce and water is withdrawn from it.
  • Bees perform various tasks. While the foraging bee collects the nectar and pollen, the hive bee takes over the food at the entrance hole, pounds the pollen into the storage honeycomb and thickened the nectar by fanning it. Please note that the provisions are designed so that the animals have something to eat on cold and wet days.
  • Wasps and hornets are omnivores. Through their biting-licking mouthparts they eat insects and their larvae, easily accessible nectar and fruit. They kill their prey with their sting, but their sting is also very painful for you due to the poison. Multiple hornet stings can be life-threatening in allergy sufferers.

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