THE BEHAVIOR OF BEES IN BEE POLLEN COLLECTING

Abstract

Introduction. Among the many issues of breeding and housing of honey bees we dedicated our studies to one of the topical issues that determines the growth and development of the bee colony– protein food. The goal of the work. To conduct a comprehensive study of the behavior of bees in bee pollen collecting. Materials and methods of research. The study was conducted on the experimental apiary of the National Scientific Center “Institute of beekeeping named after P.I. Prokopovych” in standard bee colonies of Ukrainian steppe breed (Apis mellifera sossimai). The bee colonies met the standard of Ukrainian steppe breed, as confirmed by the results of the exterior evaluation. Results of research and discussion. The use of protein food influences the physiological development and contributes to life extension of young bees. In deficiency of the protein food bees start slowly developing hypopharyngeal glands and therefore the level of feeding of larvae decreases. Conclusions and prospects for further research. The study revealed that bees-collectors of bee pollen have individual characteristics of bee pollen collecting which are reflected in difference between the time spent on bee pollen collecting, nature of the food collecting and activity of flying for food.