Beginners Course 2015.
NECTAR! Attracts insects for pollination! Sucrose, with varying amounts of glucose and fructose, volatile oils! Found at the base of petals! Bees have short tongues, so cannot reach nectar in some flowers
What do bees do with the nectar?! Suck it up through their tongue, into the honey stomach! Forager bees pass drop on to bees in the hive! Placed in cells where it is concentrated by fanning and changed by enzymes = HONEY.! When concentrated enough, capped with wax
POLLEN! Male reproductive cells of a plant.! When bees enter a flower, they transfer pollen to the female parts of the flower (FERTILISE it)! Essential for seed production! Bees transfer it accidentally, but also collect it
What do bees do with the pollen?! Collect it in baskets on their hind legs! Stored in the comb, or used immediately! Bees convert it to BROOD FOOD! High in protein and fats! Essential for brood production
Pollen in a comb! Different coloured pollen from different plants! Capped with honey to improve storage! Can be a nuisance if too much is stored - goes mouldy in the frames
WATER! Need water for cooling the hive in hot weather, and! to dilute honey or other feeds.! Usually find a source close to the hive! can be a nuisance to neighbours! A shallow pond is ideal
PROPOLIS! Pro Polis Greek = in front of the city! Resins and gums collected mainly from trees! Sticks combs together, repairs holes, covers up foreign bodies! Antiseptic properties! Reason for using a hive tool
Propolis covered mouse
Hive Products - Honey! Colour, taste, and texture depend on what the bees have been feeding on.! In Britain most honey is multifloral! Different honeys extracted at different times! High glucose honeys crystallise faster! Most (unheated) honey will crystallise eventually
Hive Products - Wax! Produced between abdominal segments! Bees work together to build comb! Expensive- Bees use 8 grams of honey to produce 1gm of wax! Excess wax is available when honey is extracted, or when replacing old combs
How do bees find sources of food?! Foragers go out testing flowers! Attracted by scent and colour! Communicate to other bees using the WAGGLE DANCE
How do you know what your bees are feeding on?! Observation! Listening! Pollen colour - on legs or in comb - pollen chart! Pollen analysis
PLANTS FROM WHICH BEES COLLECT NECTAR FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HONEY IN BRITAIN Times of flowering are for the South of England PLANTS FROM WHICH BEES COLLECT NECTAR FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HONEY IN BRITAIN Times of flowering are for the South of England Major Honey Plants Major Honey Plants Feb/March April May June Plum & Damson Cherry Pear OSR Apple Dandelion Hawthorn Sycamore OSR Blackberry Field Bean Raspberry Sainfoin OSR Borage Bell Heather Blackberry Limes White Clover Willowherb OSR Borage July August Sept./October Minor Honey Plants Bell Heather Blackberry Ling Mustard Red Clover Willowherb Ling Mustard P Pollen only, no nectar July August Sept./October P P P P P Minor Honey Plants P Pollen only, no nectar Feb/March April May June Alder Almond Butterburr Celandine Coltsfoot Crocus Elms Gorse Hazel Lauristinus Poplar Prunus Snowdrop Violet Willows Winter Aconite Winter Heathers Yew P P Almond Alyssum Arabis Ash Aubretia Berberis Blackthorn Box Coltsfoot Crab Apples Currants Dead Nettles Doronicum Gooseberry Gorse Laurel Maples Willows Wood Anemone P Beech Bilberry P Birch Bluebell Brassicas Broom Ceanothus Cotoneasters Cuckoo Flower Forget-me-not Gorse Holly Horse Chestnut P Oak P Plantain Thrift Wallflower P P Anchusa Asparagus Bindweed Birdsfoot Trefoil Buttercup Catmint Charlock Cranesbills Jacob s Ladder Lucerne Onion Pyracantha Red Clover Robinia Rockroses Thyme Vetches Vipers Bugloss White Bryony Wild Rose Yellow Melilot P P Bergamot Borage Buckwheat Campanulas Cornflower Cranesbills Escallonia Fennel Figworts Flax Hogweed Hollyhock Hyssop Knapweed Knotgrasses Lavender Mallows Meadowsweet Mignonette Mullein Phacelia Poppies Privet Ragwort Red Clover Sages Scabious Sweet Chestnut Tulip Tree Veronicas White Melilot Yellow Trefoil P Balsam Borage Chickory Cucumber Dwarf Gorse Fuchsia Golden Rod Helenium Knotgrasses Mallows Marjoram Meadowsweet Michaelmas Daisies Mint Mullein Sunflower Purple Loosestrife Sages Sea Lavender Snowberry Thistles Toadflax Travellers Joy Vegetable Marrow Virginia Creeper White Charlock White Horehound White Melilot Wood Sage Balsam Dwarf Gorse Fuchsia Ivy Michaelmas Daisies Sea Lavender Thistles White Charlock
Ivy Winter heliotrope
Willow
Daffodil
Blackthorn
Dandelion
Dandelion Apple
Oilseed Rape
Sycamore
Broad Bean Sycamore
Blackberry
White clover
White clover Marjoram
Horse Chestnut
Lime
Mint Mint
Borage Mint
Willow Herb Rosebay Willow Willow herb Herb
Rosebay Willow Herb Rosebay Willow Phacelia herb
Himalayan Balsam Himalayan Balsam Himalayan Balsam Himalayan Balsam
Ivy
Ivy