Only large amounts of powdered sugar applied directly to brood cells harms immature honey bees

Authors

Nicholas P. Aliano, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Marion D. Ellis, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2005

Comments

Published in Journal of Apicultural Research 44:1(2005), pp. 32-34. Copyright 2005 International Bee Research Association.

Abstract

We applied measured amounts of powdered sugar directly to honey bee brood combs containing eggs and larvae of known age groups. 24 h later, we compared powdered sugar-treated brood with similarly aged cohorts of immature bees that did not receive powdered sugar. Low and high doses of powdered sugar (0.3 and 0.6 g per 151.5 ± 1.0 cells, respectively) caused significant egg removal of 62.2 ± 5.1% and 86.1 ± 5.1%, respectively, when compared to eggs that received no powdered sugar (t = 16.91; df = 29; P = 0.0001). Powdered sugar had no effect on 5-day-old honey bee larvae (t = 0.74; df = 29; P = 0.4668), but caused a significant percentage of 8-day-old larvae (18.5 ± 4.5%) to be removed when applied at the high dose (t = 4.10; df = 29; P = 0.0003).