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enismirdalWhen I was talking to one of our collaborators in Cambridge, one of my undergrad supervisors (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
perplexednatsci, you know who I mean!), she suggested trying PCR plates as bee feeders.
Hokay, so a PCR plate is basically a load of teeny weeny plastic tubes that are all stuck together in a sort of grid. They hold what, about a millilitre each, and are tapered towards the bottom. So if you cut up a large plate into perhaps a 3 by 5 grid, you have a little feeder where you can put sugar solution in each tube and then the bees have to work quite hard to get the sugar, a bit like foraging from real flowers. And because they can only just reach the last bit of sugar in each tube, they'll keep trying and it keeps them busy for a good few hours longer than a normal feeder would.
So I set a couple of these up and am very very pleased!
The small bees are especially funny. The big bees have a longer proboscis, but the smaller bees can squeeze their head and shoulders into the tubes to get down further, so it all evens out. I have to say, there is almost nothing on earth as cute as a PCR tube with a little wiggling bee bum sticking out of the bottom!
Except then there was the small, silly bee. This one found she could get all the way into each tube so she could get every last drop out, unlike all the other bees. She'd shimmy down until only the tips of her back feet were hooking over the edge of the tube.
Twice now, she's got just a bit too keen! And got...stuck.
And so twice, I've had to grab her back legs with the tweezers and pop her back out again (it really does make a sort of mini-pop) and put her back home. Hopefully she'll learn. Daft creature. It's kind of cute but sort of makes me roll my eyes as well!
perplexednatsci, you know who I mean!), she suggested trying PCR plates as bee feeders.Hokay, so a PCR plate is basically a load of teeny weeny plastic tubes that are all stuck together in a sort of grid. They hold what, about a millilitre each, and are tapered towards the bottom. So if you cut up a large plate into perhaps a 3 by 5 grid, you have a little feeder where you can put sugar solution in each tube and then the bees have to work quite hard to get the sugar, a bit like foraging from real flowers. And because they can only just reach the last bit of sugar in each tube, they'll keep trying and it keeps them busy for a good few hours longer than a normal feeder would.
So I set a couple of these up and am very very pleased!
The small bees are especially funny. The big bees have a longer proboscis, but the smaller bees can squeeze their head and shoulders into the tubes to get down further, so it all evens out. I have to say, there is almost nothing on earth as cute as a PCR tube with a little wiggling bee bum sticking out of the bottom!
Except then there was the small, silly bee. This one found she could get all the way into each tube so she could get every last drop out, unlike all the other bees. She'd shimmy down until only the tips of her back feet were hooking over the edge of the tube.
Twice now, she's got just a bit too keen! And got...stuck.
And so twice, I've had to grab her back legs with the tweezers and pop her back out again (it really does make a sort of mini-pop) and put her back home. Hopefully she'll learn. Daft creature. It's kind of cute but sort of makes me roll my eyes as well!
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Date: 3 Aug 2007 20:29 (UTC)no subject
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