CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Do bees need water? How to feed bees? How to feed bees?

Do bees need water? How to feed bees? How to feed bees?

1. Bees need water. Feeding them an appropriate amount of water is beneficial to their growth and development.

2. There are many ways to feed water to bees. The first method is to use a feeder to feed water, which can hold water for bees to collect water during the day; the second method is to feed water with a basin of water, which can be placed in the apiary for bees to collect water nearby, and some small wooden sticks, small wood chips, etc. can be placed in the basin; the third method is to feed water with a water tank, which can be filled with water, and some floating objects such as weeds and wooden boards can be placed on the water surface; the fourth method is to dig a ditch to feed water.

What are the common foods that bees use?

The feed for feeding bee colonies mainly includes sugar feed (honey or sucrose syrup), protein feed (pollen or pollen substitutes), water and inorganic salts. (1) Feeding sugar feed. Sugar is the most important feed for bee colonies. Lack of sugar feed will not only affect the normal development of the bee colony in the base shed, but also make it difficult for the bee colony to survive. The sugar feed used to feed the bee colony mainly includes syrup made from honey and sucrose. According to the status of the bee colony and the goal of bee colony management, there are two ways to feed the bee colony with sugar feed, one is supplementary feeding and the other is reward feeding. (2) Feeding protein feed. Pollen is the only source of protein in the natural food of the bee colony. Although adult worker bees can survive without pollen and only honey, the development of young bees and the growth of larvae cannot be separated from pollen. The pollen collected by the bee colony is mainly used to prepare bee food for the cultivation of larvae. Insufficient external pollen sources will cause the queen bee to lay fewer eggs and larvae to develop poorly, seriously affecting the development of the bee colony; in addition, it will cause premature aging of the bees and reduce their ability to secrete royal jelly and beeswax. Therefore, during the bee colony breeding period, if external pollen sources are lacking, the bee colony must be supplemented with pollen or other protein feed. The most ideal protein feed for feeding bees is stored pollen combs, followed by dry pollen balls. If there are no stored pollen combs and dry pollen balls, pollen substitutes have to be fed. There are many pollen substitutes currently in use, such as yeast powder, defatted soybean powder, pea powder, etc., which are all high-protein, low-fat foods. (3) Feeding water rules. Water is an indispensable substance for bees to maintain their life activities. The various metabolic functions of the bee body cannot be separated from water. The decomposition, absorption, transportation of nutrients in the bee food and the excretion of waste left after utilization all rely on the role of water. In addition, bees also use water to regulate the temperature and humidity in the hive. When the bee colony reaches the breeding period, especially in the midsummer, the water demand is quite amazing. A medium-sized bee colony in the breeding stage consumes about 250 ml of water every day. When the bee colony cannot collect nectar from the outside, many bees will fly to the pool or the wet soil surface to collect water. If the bees fly out to collect water in strong winds or low temperatures, a large number of deaths will occur. If they collect water from unclean water sources, it is easy to cause bee diseases. Therefore, from early spring to autumn, the bee colony should be fed with clean water continuously. Inorganic salts are indispensable substances for the formation and renewal of body tissues, the promotion of vigorous physiological functions, and the help of digestion. Lack of inorganic salts will reduce weight and shorten the life of bees. Honey contains a certain amount of calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur and other elements, so eating honey can basically meet the needs of the bee colony for inorganic salts. Feeding salt to the bee colony can be combined with feeding water. Add 0.5% coarse sea salt to clean water, or place a salt bag on the water board of the feeder. You can also combine feeding salt with feeding syrup, that is, add 500 mg of dipotassium hydrogen phosphate or 725 mg of magnesium sulfate, or 500 mg of coarse sea salt per liter in 60% concentration syrup.