Allen:
> I'm not big on the references, but I'll bet that Peter can cite you till the cows come home and your eyes glaze over.

EXAMPLE:
The food of adult worker bees consists of pollen and nectar or honey.
The nutritive value of pollen from different plants varies considerably.

After emerging, some worker bees begin consuming
pollen during the first 1 to 2 hours of their presence in the colony.
At 12 hours after emergence, 50 per cent or more of the workers have
started eating pollen in small amounts. However, mass consumption
begins when bees are 42 to 52 hours old and reaches a maximum when
they are five days old.  When bees are 8 to 10 days old,
their pollen consumption diminishes.

When freshly emerged bees are kept on a pure carbohydrate diet, the N
content of their bodies diminishes and mortality greatly increases. However,
when, even after 30 days on a pure sugar diet, protein-starved bees are offered
pollen normal development is re-established and the young bees reared
by them are normal.

When the diet consumed by emerged bees is inadequate,
weight and N content increases very slightly. If these bees, even
after 60 days on such a ration, receive a proper diet, their growth becomes
normal. This phenomenon is of great importance. It indicates the tremendous
ability of a colony of bees to adjust itself.

A colony consisting of bees 47 days old kept on pure sugar diet for 189 days,
maintained normal flying activity; but the bees lost 33 per cent of body
weight and 22 per cent of N, the greatest N loss (44.7 per cent) occurring
in the abdomen. Apparently, older bees need only a supply of carbohydrate
for energy, deriving all the necessary materials for repair of vital organs
by catabolizing the body stores deposited during earlier periods of
growth.

HONEY BEE NUTRITION
BY MYKOLAH . HAYDAK
Annu. Rev. Entomol. 1970

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