Good Nutrition - Good Bees

David Aston, Sally Bucknall

• Publisher: Northern Bee Books
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781914934025
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Agriculture
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The importance of pollinator species to man's survival and the functioning of the world's ecosystems is recognised. Environmental and other stressors have taken their toll on many pollinator species and their abundance.

The European Honey bee ( Apis mellifera ) and man have had a long mutually beneficial relationship and it is vital that this continues.

Like all organisms, honey bees need food and shelter to ensure their survival and ability to thrive. A key factor in achieving this is the understanding of the role of good nutrition in honey bee biology.

This book considers the role of good nutrition for honey bees in the British Isles and the implications of these requirements for beekeepers and their beekeeping management techniques and for those who manage land on which forage for honey bees and other pollinators might be grown.

About the Authors

David Aston, B.Sc., MSc., Ph.D., NDB is a biologist and a Master Beekeeper having kept bees continuously for 40 years in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He holds the National Diploma in Beekeeping (NDB), has been Board Chairman and a current member of its Executive. He has contributed to the work of the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) for many years and has served as Chair of Trustees and is now a Past President. He is also a Trustee of the CB Dennis British Beekeepers' Research Trust.

Sally Bucknall, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., CBiol. is a biologist and environmentalist. She has been a Trustee and Chair of Trustees for the charity Garden Organic (Henry Doubleday Research Association, HDRA).

This husband and wife team have published two other books relating to beekeeping, namely Plants and Honey Bees - their relationships and Keeping Healthy Honey Bees.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The British Isles – and their climates
• 2. A short history of the honey bee in the British Isles
• 3. Human relationships with the honey bee in the British Isles today
• 4. Honey bees – domesticated or semi-domesticated?
• 5. Beekeeping – applied honey bee biology
• 6. Recent history and current status of beekeeping in England and Wales
• 7. The differences between hunger, malnutrition and starvation
• 8. The role of the beekeeper in understanding the honey bee colony and factors affecting the species’ survival
• 9. The honey bee colony structure – a superorganism – the fundamentals
• 10. Wild honey bee colonies
• 11. Honey bee colony life cycle
• 12. Optimum colony size
• 13. The composition of a honey bee colony
• 14. Some important aspects of insect and honey bee structures and physiology – with respect to nutrition
• 15. Honey bee pheromones and their role in nutrition
• 16. Honey bee hormones and their role in nutrition
• 17. Key nutrients required for growth / reproduction & existence
• 18. Metamorphosis and aspects of the physiological & nutritional requirements of each caste thoughout the individual’s life cycle
• 19. Gross nutritional requirements of the honey bee colony during its annual cycle: Carbohydrates
• 20. The gross nutritional requirements of the honey bee colony during its annual cycle: protein
• 21. The honey bee gut (micro) biome – an introduction
• 22. Bee health, vitality and nutrition
• 23. Bee diseases, pests, other stresssors and nutrition
• 24. Phenology & Pollination
• 25. Plant and flower structure
• 26. What we understand honey bees know about flowers
• 27. The hoarding instinct
• 28. Honey bee foraging
• 29. Landscape, land use and forage
• 30. The plant palette in the garden and pollinators
• 31. Hedgerows and boundaries and screening
• 32. Roadside Verge Management
• 33. Gardeners and their grass (‘lawns’)
• 34. Trees and shrubs
• 35. British floral sources considered to be of importance to the honey bee and their flowering periods
• 36. Some likely effects of climate change on species change and flowering times in plants visited by honey bees
• 37. Archaeotypes, neophytes and invasive non-native species
• 38. Land management and its impact on forage availability for honey bees throughout the year
• 39. The feeding of honey bee colonies – options available
• 40. Types of sugar feeders
• 41. Sugars in the form of fondant and candy
• 42. Protein - through the feeding of pollen supplements or substitutes
• 43. Pollen / protein supplements with / without fondant
• 44. Other Supplementation
• 45. Current supplementary feeding practices in England and Wales
• 46. Beekeeping strategy considerations for meeting colony nutritional needs throughout the year
• 47. Overwinter colony survival
• 48. During the winter until early spring
• 49. The spring expansion
• 50. Early and mid summer
• 51. Late summer / autumn
• 52. For colony consolidation before onset of winter
• 53. When drawing foundation
• 54. When queen rearing
• 55. Preparing colonies for pollination services
• 56. Feeding nuclei, small swarms, queen mating and small colonies
• 57. Emergency feeding
• 58. Hive hygiene
• 59. So what is in store for our honey bees in the future?
• 60. Conservation agriculture
• 61. Implications for decision makers
• 62. In conclusion
• References
• Annex I
• Annex II