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Why Honey Bees? While bumblebees, some solitary bees, moths and even some birds provide pollination, only honey bees can be managed to provide the large scale of pollination required for fruit and vegetable production. Honey bees collect some pollen as a source of protein for developing bees. However, their primary task is collecting nectar from each blossom. In the process, grains of pollen are spread to the stigma of each bloom the bee visits.
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 A strong colony of honey bees being inspected |
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| Once a honey bee begins bringing in nectar from a certain plant, it will continue working on that type of plant until the nectar supply is depleted. This makes honey bees the most effective pollinator for field crops when combined with their sheer numbers. A strong hive may contain 60,000 bees or more. That's why it takes only one hive to pollinate an entire acre of melons. | ||||||
