Mutritional management in honey bees

摘要

"A large part of a beekeepers responsibility in caring for a colony of honey bees is to help manage both carbohydrate and proteinacous resources. This is much easier said than done." Allen Dick's discussion of pollen patties (HiveLights, Canadian Honey Council, May 2003) reminds me again that for many beekeepers, nutritional management is problematic. He concludes, "Careful attention to nutrition has become even more important in recent years because adults and brood are often parasitized by mites."Honey bee nutrition can be divided into two generalized categories; carbohydrate and protein. The former is responsible for providing the energy a colony needs to carry out its activities. The latter the building blocks needed to rear brood. Carbohydrate is an easily shared resource that can be passed around quickly within a colony. Mr. Dick concludes, "Most beekeepers know how to feed syrup and honey successfully, but far fewer understand protein supplementation."