Author Topic: forager ratio?  (Read 2306 times)

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Offline Zweefer

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forager ratio?
« on: May 26, 2014, 10:40:24 pm »
Wondering if there is a normal ratio for pollen to nectar / water for foragers?  I have observed an almost perfect 1 : 1 ratio on one hive and  5 :7 on the other?
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Offline pistolpete

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Re: forager ratio?
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2014, 01:01:18 am »
with bees everything works on feedback loops.  If a bee finds that her load is very popular with the house bees, she'll dance and recruit more bees to go with her.  If the bee has to wander around trying to give her load away, she takes a long break and then goes out again without recruiting.   The end result is that the house bees regulate the behaviour of foragers and the hive gets exactly what it needs.   

For example I have a Nuc with a feeder on. They don't need a lot of nectar, but they have a lot of brood to feed.  The result is a lot of pollen coming in (approx. 1:1)    The parent hive next to them has a virgin queen about to start laying, they have no brood.  Their ratio is about 20 nectar foragers to 1 pollen forager.   Under normal conditions a hive sends out a total of about 100 to 200 water foragers. 
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Offline blueblood

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Re: forager ratio?
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2014, 06:08:18 am »
Good info there Pete.

Offline riverbee

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Re: forager ratio?
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2014, 03:21:04 pm »
great question zweefer.  normal ratio?  all forage collection and the ratios will depend on and change according to the needs of a colony.  many factors influence this, for example,  the queen's age, laying ability, pheromone;  the strength of the colony, eggs and larvae or lack thereof; empty comb, health of the colony, abundance or lack of pollen, nectar, water;  temps and the time of year. 

as far as deciding those ratio's, amazingly these decisions are made by the colony as a whole, and not just the house bees, through pheromones, communication and dances. foragers and scout bees play a pivotal role in the decision making.  tom seely describes this as an "information center" strategy of foraging.  mark winston (the biology of the honey bee) also describes two groups: (chapter on Collection of Food; Colony-Level Control of Foraging):

"Given the importance of food collection, it is not surprising that honey bees have evolved numerous mechanisms for increasing colony-level foraging efficiency.  These mechanisms can be divided into two major groups:  those for obtaining information about colony requirements and using that information to stimulate workers to forage for nectar and pollen; and those for allocating foraging tasks to maximize gain, recruiting to resources, transferring information and making decisions about when to switch resources."

this is a good chapter on food collection in winston's book.

also, seely's book, The Wisdom of the Hive, is an excellent in depth read of the organization of the food collection process in honey bee colonies.



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