The Effect on Foraging Behavior of Moving Honey Bee Colonies to Crops Before or After Flowering Has Begun1

Abstract

Some colonies of honey bees(Apis melliferaL.) were taken to crops before flowering, and others after flowering had begun Counting bees entering their hives established the relative foraging populations of the two groups; marking bees leaving the hives of the two groups with different fluorescent powders enabled the proportions of them captured on the crops to be ascertained; hence the relative proportions of foragers of the two groups visiting the crops could be calculated. All six experiments showed that the proportion of foragers visiting the crop was increased by delaying the moving of their colonies into it until after flowering had begun.