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Honey Bee Forage Zone
by
Dean Lennox
I've
often wondered what the honey bee forage zone around my apiary site included.
From Wikipedia:
For bees, their forage or food supply consists of nectar and pollen from
blooming plants within flight range. The forage sources for honey bees are an
important consideration for beekeepers.
Forage is also significant for pollination management with other bee species.
Nectar contains sugars that are the primary source of energy for the bees' wing
muscles and for heat for honey bee colonies for winter.
Pollen
provides the protein and trace minerals that are mostly fed to the brood in
order to replace bees lost in the normal course of life cycle and colony
activity.
As a rule of thumb the foraging area around a beehive extends for two miles (3
km), although bees have been observed foraging twice and three times this
distance from the hive.
Foraging at extreme distances wears out the wings of individual bees, reduces
the life expectancy of foraging bees and therefore the efficiency of the colony.
The minimum temperature for active honeybee foraging is approximately 55 °F (13
°C). Full foraging activity is not achieved until the temperature rises to 66 °F
(19 °C). (Sourced from Wikipedia)
I’ve used the Google map application to create a ‘public’ and ‘private’ apiary
map view, together with a wrapper that allows additional apiary locations to be
plotted. A scalable 3km forge zone is displayed around each apiary location
plotted.
Apiary sites plotted on the private apiary map are only visible to site owners,
at close zoom range. This provides you with the option of keeping your sites
private while still being able to view the forage zone around them.
You are welcome to try it out and plot your apiary sites!
Access the maps at: www.apiculture.co.za
Dean Lennox
