Spring Bee
by Kathy Bassett
Title
Spring Bee
Artist
Kathy Bassett
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A spectacular day for the honey bee. I think this bee's condition looks healthy and I was happy to see this. He lives in hives provided nearby on a rural farm in British Columbia. It was a buzzy shoot, and I loved every minute of it! SMALLER TO MEDIUM FORMATS Winter survival In cold climates honey bees stop flying when the temperature drops below about 10 �C (50 �F) and crowd into the central area of the hive to form a "winter cluster". The worker bees huddle around the queen bee at the center of the cluster, shivering in order to keep the center between 27 �C (81 �F) at the start of winter (during the broodless period) and 34 �C (93 �F) once the queen resumes laying. The worker bees rotate through the cluster from the outside to the inside so that no bee gets too cold. The outside edges of the cluster stay at about 8�9 �C (46�48 �F). The colder the weather is outside, the more compact the cluster becomes. During winter, they consume their stored honey to produce body heat. The amount of honey consumed during the winter is a function of winter length and severity but ranges in temperate climates from 15 to 50 kg (30 to 100 pounds).Foragecoming in loaded with pollen on the hive landing boards. Pollination management and List of crop plants pollinated by beesSpecies of Apis are generalist floral visitors, and will pollinate a large variety of plants, but by no means all plants. Of all the honey bee species, only Apis mellifera has been used extensively for commercial pollination of crops and other plants. The value of these pollination services is commonly measured in the billions of dollars.Pollination by a honey bee Honey is the complex substance made when the nectar and sweet deposits from plants and trees are gathered, modified and stored in the honeycomb by honey bees as a food source for the colony. All living species of Apis have had their honey gathered by indigenous peoples for consumption, though for commercial purposes only Apis mellifera and Apis cerana have been exploited to any degree. Honey is sometimes also gathered by humans from the nests of various stingless bees. In 1911 a bee culturists estimated that a quart of honey represented bees flying over an estimated 48,000 miles to gather the pollen needed for the nectar to produce the honey.A Natural Beehive of Apis dorsata, The Giant Honey Bee. The bottom right part of the hive shows a few unoccupied honeycombs Worker bees of a certain age will secrete beeswax from a series of glands on their abdomens. They use the wax to form the walls and caps of the comb. As with honey, beeswax is gathered for various purposes.A forager collecting pollen Bees collect pollen in the pollen basket and carry it back to the hive. In the hive, pollen is used as a protein source necessary during brood-rearing. In certain environments, excess pollen can be collected from the hives of A. mellifera and A. cerana. It is often eaten as a health supplement. Propolis or bee glue is created from resins, balsams and tree saps. Those species of honey bees that nest in tree cavities use propolis to seal cracks in the hive. Dwarf honey bees use propolis to defend against ants by coating the branch from which their nest is suspended to create a sticky moat. Propolis is consumed by humans as a health supplement in various ways and also used in some cosmetics.
Uploaded
April 14th, 2013
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