The present work aimed to examine the attractiveness of ten new pollen supplemental diets to honey bees (Apis mellifera) through evaluating the consumption rate, besides their efficiency in supporting the colony through measuring colony growth (sealed workers brood area). Twelve materials were used and mixed with honey bee in different proportions forming diets taking numbers from 1 to 10. These materials were flours of: gram seeds, beans seeds, pea seeds, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, anise seeds, white kidney beans seeds, caraway seeds, rice seeds, fennel seeds and oats. Diets were consumed at rates that were comparable to the control (sugar candy). Generally differences among consumption rates of supplemental pollen diets were highly significant. The highest consumed amounts were recorded in colonies fed on diet (1); 47.42gm/ colony in average, mix. (2); 43.35 gm/ colony in each week. While the lowest consumption rate (27.3 gm/ colony) in each week was recorded for diet no. 10 in average. There was a significant relationship between the amount of diet consumed and the increase in workers sealed brood area. Where colonies fed with mixture diets from gram seeds (Diet 2), dried pea with rice, fennel and fenugreek (Diet 3), dried beans seeds with fennel seeds (Diet 4) and oats, rice, anise seeds (Diet 1), showed 53.71%, 38.44%, 35.98% and 5.85% more brood area than control ones.

Insects require dietary sources of B-vitamins, but relatively little is known about whether they regulate B-vitamin intake in the same way they regulate other nutrients. Honey bees meet their B-vitamin requirements mainly from the pollen they collect. Employing the geometric framework for nutrition, we found that honey bees actively regulate their vitamin intake following Bertrand's rule. We fed bees with a diet of essential amino acids (EAAs) and carbohydrate (C) to identify how the addition of B-vitamins affected the regulation of these macronutrients. In our experiments, honey bees preferred vitamins in concentrations comparable to those found in honey bee food (pollen, beebread, and royal jelly). Honey bees actively regulated niacin around an optimal value. Supplementing honey bee diets with B-vitamins influenced the amount of EAAs and carbohydrate ingested differently depending on the type of the vitamin. The impact of these vitamins was observed over the course of seven days where honey bees' mortality increased on diets of low and medium folic acid concentrations. This study provides insights into honey bee food intake regulation and the feeding preferences and sets the basis for future studies considering B-vitamins in honey bees diets.