Pardon the lesson. All of our readers aren't scientists.

 

We should think of the hive as a unit. The mouth (read intake) is composed
of foragers. The incoming pollen and nectar needs to be processed, in order
for the raw materials to become nourishment. Pollen is tough stuff and
digestion begins in the cell by the addition of materials that begin
fermentation. (Providing this is not inhibited by fungicides or herbicide).
The middle of this digestive system is the all-important nurse bee
contingent. Newly emerged bees provide a less stringent version of brood
food to the older larva. As their food making glands get dialed in they move
to feeding the frailer young brood. It's obvious that this is where the raw
material goes in one end of a nurse bee and comes out in the middle via
those glands in the head. Since these bees need a drop of nourishment for
themselves, any foreign material is absorbed within her body and  of course
is passed on to the larva. Floating in the hemolymph are materials to
accomplish at least some detoxification. If the pesticide were red.every
part of the colony would be a different shade of pink.

 

The premature deaths of the foragers will deeply affect this system as
younger bees are pressed into this service; the ranks of the nurse bees are
depleted; the queen stops laying, etc. Could it be that we could learn more
from successful colonies in a toxic situation, than by studying the sick
ones.

 

How to dose a single bee seems a little like discussing how many angels can
dance on the head of a pin.

 

Dick Marron

 

 


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