Delicate, sweet, fragrant, well, how not to enjoy it, especially if it was recently harvested, and summer is reflected in it, like in a mirror?
How do bees collect pollen and make honey from it? Probably, there is no person who would not be interested in this question. Since ancient times, people have tried to unravel the secrets of the life of bees, these amazingly hardworking insects, let's try to look into the hive and get to know them better.
Why do insects need pollen?
The process of creating a tasty and nutritious product is not easy.
Pollen and nectar play an important role in this - very important components that determine the taste and quality of honey. Let's look at how many functions they have.
Pollen is not only used to make honey, but it is also a necessary raw material for babies and adult bees. The elixir obtained from flowers is the basis of the life of nurses, without it they would have become exhausted and could not produce the most valuable product - royal jelly.
Without nectar and pollen, babies would not be able to live. Flower nectar and pollen help them grow and become strong. The worker bees feed for three days, the queen until she becomes an adult. At the end of the term, the individual grows, and its formed working glands are ready for work.
There are also builders in the hive. They need nectar and pollen so that the wax glands do their job well and can build strong combs. What are they needed for? For those who do not know, we will answer. Honeycombs are needed in order to seal and store honey in them.
We must not forget about the drones, although their work is reduced only to the insemination of females, not receiving pollen and nectar, they will not be able to cope with their duties, and their puberty will be long and irregular.
So, think about how many duties the members of the bee family have and how many times a day they move nimbly, conscientiously doing their job.
In addition to all of the above, pollen and nectar can be called a “test” for bee pollen; in the cold season, bees will weaken without it.
So, nectar, like plant pollen, has not one, but many functions, and all of them are vital for a large bee family.
Bees collect nectar
Nectar is found in honey plants: flowers, shrubs, trees, for example, in birch earrings. The first honey plants bloom early, and the bees immediately get to work. In addition to earrings, birches pamper bees with their juice, and bees collect propolis from buds and leaves. It is impossible to say how many times a day a bee makes difficult flights, it is only known that this restless worker flies from dawn to dusk.
Insects see flowers quite differently. Nature has tried to create such conditions for insects that they feel comfortable landing on them.
From the word "nectar" came the name "nectarines" - parts of plants filled with a sweet liquid, juice. It is thanks to them, or rather their aroma, that plants owe the possibility of procreation.
A bribe, or, in other words, honey collection, is the name of the process when a bee collects nectar and brings it to the hive. Nature rewarded the bee with a proboscis, and with it she collects nectar, which mixes with saliva in her mouth.
They work tirelessly, sometimes overcoming fantastic distances, and all because there are bribes and there is an opportunity to store it in a hive. The body of the bee gets tired, it is not eternal, perhaps the insect realizes that if there is honey, the brood will be good, the dead flying bees will be replaced by new ones, which means that the wintering will be prosperous. Somewhere on an instinctive level, the insect understands that the health and good wintering of bees depends on how much honey is harvested for the winter. The hard worker does not care about her well-being, she will not have a chance to taste honey until it ripens for a month in wax combs, she will probably no longer exist.
How does this happen
The bee can only carry pollen from the flower to the hive with the help of its body. From the pollen bearer, as we have already said, pollen and nectar are collected at the same time.
- The bee lands on the part of the flower where the pollen is.
- Fascinated by the collection of nectar, she picks up pollen grains on her paws.
- Moving the hind limbs with a certain frequency, the insect cleans the prey into special "brushes".
- "Brushes" move to the hind legs.
- After sniffing with the hind limbs, the pollen is lumped together.
- Pollen can be dry, insects are very careful with it, it is, for example, on birch catkins.
- A ball of pollen rolls into a basket, a depression in the lower leg of the bee.
The bee will work on one flower until her basket is filled to the brim, and only then will she leave the object of the honey collection. In the hive, the pushed out ball of pollen will be transferred to the receiving bee, which will compact it into the cell.
Attention - honey appears
You probably noticed how complicated the preparatory process is. The production of honey is no easier.
The receiving bee is responsible for the formation of the honey mass, removing excess moisture from the nectar (pollen). The ventilation of the evidence and the evaporation of excess liquid from the cells depend on it.
Noticing that a small portion of nectar has thickened, the bees carry it into free combs. Ripened honey, that is, one in which the moisture is less than 21%, rises in the tray, as it is closed with wax caps. The nectar mixed with the secret of bees and oxygen starts hydrolysis, which continues in the cells.
From what plants do bees in Japan collect poisonous or "drunk" honey? Please detailed answer + photo + link in the answer.
Poisonous or "drunk" honey known from ancient times. Honey got this name because a person who has eaten such honey becomes like a very intoxicated one. He is dizzy and cannot stand on his feet.wild rosemary
aconite
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Rhododendron
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In the highlands of the middle and northern part of Japan, when people consume honey, a disease occurs associated with the action of poisonous nectar collected by bees from the HOTSUTSAINE plant from the heather family..
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:wst...
Poisonous honey almost does not differ from ordinary honey in appearance.. Honey may be less aromatic, somewhat bitter, and smell like burnt sugar. Only a chemical study allows us to establish the presence of compounds toxic to humans in honey. With prolonged storage, the poisonous properties of honey weaken and may even disappear altogether.
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For bees, this honey is harmless in moderation.
Human consumption of poisonous honey causes poisoning.
Signs of poisoning are detected after 20 minutes - 2 hours: cold sweat, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and headache. The complexion becomes transparent-bluish, breathing is difficult. This condition can last 4-5 hours, and sometimes pass only after two days. 100-150 g of poisonous honey can cause loss of consciousness and even death.
Mass honey poisoning first described by the ancient Greek historian and writer Xenophon (430-335 BC) in his essay “The Retreat of 10,000 Greeks”. The Greek army, returning through Asia Minor after the victory over the Persians, stopped for the night in an area known for highly developed beekeeping. The warriors ate their fill of honey. They soon developed nausea, vomiting, dizziness and loss of consciousness. The next day, the Greeks began to regain consciousness, and after 2-3 days their condition improved, and not one of the soldiers died. It turned out that the bees collected nectar from poisonous plants that grew in the vicinity.
In 1877, poisonous honey was found in the Batumi valley., not far from the place where the Greek army suffered. The population of this area uses bees only for wax production. The poisonous effect of honey is explained by the content of the alkaloid andromethodoxine in the nectar of rhododendron flowers, which grows in this area and has a strong intoxicating smell.
Methods for neutralizing poisonous honey have been developed.
The people have long used the neutralization of poisonous honey when heated to 80-90 ° for three hours. Such a high temperature worsens the taste and quality of honey, it loses most of its healing properties. Such honey is suitable only for confectionery.
There is a method of vacuum distillation of honey.
Honey is heated to 45-50 ° C at a pressure of 65 mm Hg. pillar.
bees
There are about 21 thousand species and 520 genera of bees. They can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Bees have evolved to feed on nectar and pollen, using nectar mainly as a source of energy and pollen for protein and other nutrients.
Bees play an important role in the pollination of flowering plants, being the largest group of pollinators in flower-related ecosystems. Depending on the current need, the bees can concentrate on both collecting nectar and collecting pollen. In both the first and second cases, bees contribute to the pollination of plants, but in the case of pollen collection, this process is much more efficient.
The body of most bees is covered with numerous electrostatic branching villi that promote adhesion and transport of pollen. Periodically, they clean off pollen from themselves, collecting it with brushes (in most species located on the legs, and in some on the abdomen) and then transfer it to a special pollen basket located between the hind legs.
Many species of bees tend to collect pollen only from certain types of plants, others are not so categorical in this matter and use a wide variety of flowering plants.
A small subgroup of non-stinging bees have adapted to eating carrion - these are the only bees that do not feed on plant foods.
Pollen and nectar mix together, forming a viscous nutrient mass that folds into small cells (honeycombs). On top of the mass, the eggs of future bees are laid, after which the cell is hermetically sealed so that later adult bees and their larvae do not contact.
A study of the genetics of bees and some of the fossils indicate that they appeared much earlier, along with the appearance of flowering plants 140 million years ago.
Families of honey bees can be attributed to pronounced social colonies. In the family, each bee performs its function. The functions of a bee are conditionally determined by its biological age. However, as established, in the absence of bees of older ages, their functions can be performed by bees of younger ages.
It is necessary to distinguish between the actual and biological age of the bee, since during the honey harvest the worker bee lives from 30 to 35 days, and during the winter the bee remains biologically young up to 9 months.
From about 7 days of age, wax glands begin to work on the lower part of the abdomen of the bee and wax begins to be released in the form of small plates. Such bees gradually switch to construction work in the nest. As a rule, in the spring there is a massive build-up of white honeycombs - this is due to the fact that by this period the overwintered bees have massively reached the biological age corresponding to the build-up bees.
By about 14-15 days, the productivity of the wax glands drops sharply, and the bees switch to the following types of nest care activities - they clean the cells, clean up and take out the garbage.
From the age of about 20 days, the bees switch to ventilation of the nest and guarding the notch - this is the name of the entrance to the hive.
Bees older than 22-25 days are mainly engaged in honey collection. To inform other bees about the location of the nectar, the foraging bee uses visual biocommunication. Bees over 30 days old switch from honey collection to collecting water for the needs of the family.
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Questions to the text:
What do bees collect from plants?
Where is the pollen basket located on the body of a bee?
What eats the only species of bees that is not adapted to collect plant products?
When did the first bees appear?
What determines the functions of a bee in a family?
How many days does a worker bee live during honey collection?
What is the entrance to the hive called?
At what age do bees start working?
What do the oldest bees do?
Text test
On which continent is it impossible to find bees?
A) Australia B) Africa
C) Antarctica E) Eurasia
What do bees collect from plants?
A) honey B) nectar
C) honey and pollen D) nectar and pollen
Where is the pollen basket located on the body of a bee?
A) under the wings B) between the hind legs
C) between the front legs D) on the abdomen
What eats the only species of bees that is not adapted to collect plant products?
A) other insects
B) honey, which is collected by other types of bees
B) carrion
When did the first bees appear?
A) 140 million years ago B) 120 million years ago
C) 200 million years ago E) 100 million years ago
What determines the functions of a bee in a family?
A) body structure B) features of the hierarchy
C) age E) all bees have the same functions
How many days does a worker bee live during honey collection?
A) 10-15 days B) 30-35 days
C) 20-25 days E) 40-45 days
What is the entrance to the hive called?
April 23, 2014 admin
Honey. Bees make honey from nectar collected from plant flowers. Nectar is an aqueous solution of complex and simple sugars. The sugar content in nectar depends on the type of plants, night and day outside temperature, soil and air humidity, time of day, and many other conditions.
Bees prefer to collect nectar from plants located
Closer to the apiary, with a high content of nectar and high sugar content.
Collecting nectar, the bees suck it up with their proboscis. At the same time, the secret of the pharyngeal gland containing the enzyme invertase is added to the nectar, as a result; which the nectar accumulated in the honey goiter changes its properties. The cane sugar contained in it in a significant amount begins to break down into simple sugars - fructose and glucose. Fructose (fruit sugar) almost does not crystallize, easily absorbs moisture and is almost 2 times sweeter than glucose (grape sugar), which crystallizes faster
And it dries up. The quality of honey depends on the quantitative ratio of these sugars.
The nectar brought by the bee to the hive is passed through the proboscis to the beehive bees. The receiver many times releases nectar on the proboscis and again draws it into the honey goiter. After this treatment, the nectar is suspended dropwise in the cells. This is done in order to quickly remove excess moisture and prevent souring and molding of the product. The nectar brought and placed in the cells is called a spray.
To create air draft, many hundreds, and maybe thousands of bees on the bottom, frames, walls and the hive's landing board, by vibration of the wings, create such an air flow that it extinguishes a lit match brought to the notch. On the first day, more than half of the water evaporates from the nectar, and on the sixth day, the biological process of turning nectar into honey ends. Honey differs from nectar not only in the concentration of simple sugars, but also in physical and chemical composition. Honey is enriched with protein substances, vitamins, enzymes, microelements (in total it contains about 100 different substances).
Pad differs from honey in its increased viscosity and ductility, usually has a dark color, without a fragrant odor. Honeydew honey does not crystallize, is not printed by bees and has a peculiar, sometimes unpleasant aftertaste.
Honeydew honey (and even its admixtures to natural honey in winter) as food is harmful to bees. Mineral salts and decomposition products of its protein have a toxic effect on bees.
Honeydew.
Honeydew is a sweet discharge that appears on leaves, cuttings, and even on plant trunks as a result of exudation of plant cell sap during sharp fluctuations in air temperature on hot days and cold nights. Cells of linden, maple, oak, ash, hazel, as well as some cruciferous and cereal herbaceous plants secrete honeydew.
In terms of chemical composition, honeydew differs little from nectar and is less harmful to bees than honeydew honey. Since honeydew is not often excreted and it can be difficult to distinguish it from insect secretions, it is customary to call it honeydew of plant origin.
Pollen. The second equally important food for bees is pollen. Pollen is the main source of protein, vitamin and mineral nutrition of bees.
In early spring, pollen is produced in large quantities by wind-pollinated plants: hazel, alder, birch, aspen, poplar, but with the flowering of willow, maple, dandelion and other insect-pollinated plants, bees give them preference.
Bees collect pollen in baskets located on the lower leg of the hind legs, in the form of pollen. By the color of the fringes (tab. 2), you can, without leaving the apiary, determine which plant it is collected, where the bees fly for a bribe and plan the appropriate work in the apiary.
Usually, bees collect pollen from one type of plant, but there are minor impurities of pollen from other plants, which changes the color of the main pollen. The color of pollen also varies depending on the degree of pollen wetting with honey and saliva, its compaction, the color of the honey used for wetting, and also on the flowering stage of the plant.
The largest number of pollen bees are collected in the spring. In summer, bees collect pollen only in the morning, it is heavier than spring and autumn ones. The average weight of two bees brought into the hive by bees in spring and autumn ranges from 8 to 12 mg, and in summer - from 16 to 24 mg. The bees spend from 30 minutes to 2 hours to collect the bees in one flight.
The brought bees are put only in bee cells. Then they are tightly packed and compacted by non-flying hive bees. Since the bees need support to compact the pollen, the cells are only 6-9 mm filled.
Under the influence of enzymes in the cell, a chemical change in the pollen occurs. Sugar under the influence of bacteria is processed into lactic acid, which has preservative properties. The resulting product is called bee bread. Compared to pollen, bee pollen contains more sugar (however, due to the presence of lactic acid, it tastes sour), but less fat and protein. On average, one cell contains 140 mg of bee bread, and in the Dadanovsky frame, completely occupied by bee bread, its amount is about 1 kg.
With a lack of bee bread, the bees eat more food, consume the protein reserves of their body.
Altai Krai can be conditionally divided into several honey-bearing zones.Mountain forest zone - Altai, Charysh, Soloneshensky. Spring bribes are given here by the stepmother, willows, yellow acacia, kandyk, dandelion, meadowsweet, wolf's bast, strawberries, anemone, starodubka, lungwort, corydalis officinalis and others. For summer honey collection, clovers, fireweed, oregano, bruise, angelica, sweet clover, ringed sage, tartars, sainfoin, chipa meadow, peas, sweet clover, sickle, thistle, river gravel and others are used; from shrubs - raspberries, currants, Siberian barberries, Tatar honeysuckle, blackberries. The main bribe is usually long and late (starts from mid-August or from July 10-15 and lasts until July 25-28-August 5-10).
The foothill forest-steppe zone unites the districts of Smolensky, Sovetsky, Ust-Pristansky, Petropavlovsky, Bystro-Istoksky, Krasnoshchekovsky, Ust-Kalmansky, Beloglazovsky, Tretyakovsky, Zmeinogorsky, Krasnogorsky, Kuryinsky; priobsky part. In the foothill zone, such honey plants as sweet clover, white clover, oregano, rough cornflower, bruise, tartars, thistle thistle, and meadow geranium are common. In forest areas, the main honey collection is given by: angelica, gout, fireweed, forest raspberries, sickles, sage, thistle. The main flow continues in the forest part from July 5-10 to July 25-30 and in the steppe part - from July 15-20 to August 5-10.
The forest-steppe subtaiga zone includes Zalesovsky, Talmensky, Pervomaisky, Biysk, Kosikhinsky, Kytmanovsky, Togulsky, Eltsovsky, Troitsky, Soltonsky, Tselinny districts. In the taiga part of Zalesovsky, Togulsky, Soltonsky and in some other areas, the main honey plants are: fireweed, angelica, wild raspberry, gout, cow parsnip. Acacia yellow usually produces little nectar, since its flowering coincides with strong northerly winds and rainy weather.
The non-taiga part of these regions, as well as the territory of the remaining regions of this zone, is covered in places with birch or aspen forests with honey bushes. In some areas there are pine forests, less rich in honey plants. In floodplains, around lakes, gullies and ravines, there are significant thickets of bird cherry, buckthorn, black and red currants. White and red clover, snakehead, sage, sweet clover, sainfoin, strawberries grow along the borders and roadsides of field roads. The main bribe is not simultaneous. In the taiga zone, it usually begins on July 10, in the forest-steppe - 5-7 days later. In the forest-steppe, the bribe is longer, but less plentiful than in the taiga.
In instrumentation areas (Pavlovsky, Rebrikhinsky, Mamontovsky, Zavyalovsky, Shelabolnkhinsky, Tyumentsevsky and others), honey-bearing vegetation is concentrated along the edges of a pine forest, in pegs, along the banks of rivers and lakes, along ravines and wastelands. Spring bribes are mainly given by willows, yellow acacia, and dandelion. Of the summer honey plants, the most important are: Siberian snakehead, white clover, tartars, sweet clover, bruise, sow thistle, colza, burdock. The main honey flow is in July.
The steppe zone (Burlinsky, Slavgorodsky, Znamensky, Tabunsky, Kulundinsky, Klyuchevskoy, Rodinsky and other areas) is poor in melliferous vegetation. Beekeeping here is based mainly on sowing crops and honey plants of field-protective forest belts. Most walled areas are characterized by a long frost-free period (110-130 days) and a sufficient amount of heat. This allows the cultivation of heat-loving crops - buckwheat, sunflower for seeds, as well as forage grasses with high honey productivity - sainfoin, alfalfa, sweet clover, occupy large areas and need pollination by bees. Sunflower occupies the largest area. The maintenance of bees in this zone is difficult due to the lack of a spring flow, which begins only in late May and early June - with Siberian snakehead, dandelion and steppe acacia. Due to the drought and the small number of flowering plants from mid-June to July, there is no bribe at all. Productive honey collection begins with the flowering of sweet clover and sunflower.
In the Altai Territory, you can find various plant formations of forests, meadows and swamps. They differ greatly in the nature of honey plants. Of all the zones of the region, the foothill regions of the region, especially the valleys of Charysh, Alei and the northern foothills of Altai up to Biysk, have the richest forage base.
