Bcrazy
Drone Bee
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2008
- Messages
- 1,460
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- Warboys, CAMBS
- Hive Type
- None
- Number of Hives
- nil bees given away all colonies
This is a learning resource thread .
A question for you keen beekeepers and our Continental Cousins.
When the Honey bee is out foraging for pollen she secrets a secretion named Lactic Acid Bacteria from her honey sac or honey crop which adheres to the pollen grains and then is placed on the pollen basket for onward transport back to the hive. Gathering pollen is not as easy as it sounds. Once a honeybee arrives at a flower, she settles herself in and nimbly scrapes off the powdery loose pollen from the stamen with her jaws and front legs, moistening it with a dab of the honey she brought with her from the hive. The enlarged and broadened tarsal segments of her legs have a thick trimming of bristles, called pollen combs. The bee uses these combs to brush the gold powder from her coat and legs in mid-flight. With a skillful pressing movement of her auricle, which is used as a hammer, she pushes the gathered gold into her baskets. Her pollen baskets, surrounded by a fringe of long hairs, are simply concave areas located on the outside of her tibias. When the bee's baskets are fully loaded, the microscopic golden dust has been tamped down into a single golden grain, or granule.
Question is this ; What effect does the Lactic Acid Bacteria have on the pollen grains?
A question for you keen beekeepers and our Continental Cousins.
When the Honey bee is out foraging for pollen she secrets a secretion named Lactic Acid Bacteria from her honey sac or honey crop which adheres to the pollen grains and then is placed on the pollen basket for onward transport back to the hive. Gathering pollen is not as easy as it sounds. Once a honeybee arrives at a flower, she settles herself in and nimbly scrapes off the powdery loose pollen from the stamen with her jaws and front legs, moistening it with a dab of the honey she brought with her from the hive. The enlarged and broadened tarsal segments of her legs have a thick trimming of bristles, called pollen combs. The bee uses these combs to brush the gold powder from her coat and legs in mid-flight. With a skillful pressing movement of her auricle, which is used as a hammer, she pushes the gathered gold into her baskets. Her pollen baskets, surrounded by a fringe of long hairs, are simply concave areas located on the outside of her tibias. When the bee's baskets are fully loaded, the microscopic golden dust has been tamped down into a single golden grain, or granule.
Question is this ; What effect does the Lactic Acid Bacteria have on the pollen grains?
