Bees differ in their behaviors at blueberry flowers.
Without exception carpenter bees are nectar thieves. They puncture flowers at the base of the corollae and remove nectar, presumably without performing efficacious pollination for the plant. Honey bees cannot puncture the flowers, but they readily visit the puncture holes made by carpenter bees and thus become secondary nectar thieves. The present study employs tents to contain known numbers of honey bees, carpenter bees, or both honey bees and carpenter bees in an attempt to determine the effects of the bees, singly or interacting, on fruit-set and fruit quality. It is anecdotally reported that honey bee colonies engaged in rearing brood are superior pollination units than are broodless colonies.