Honey bee nutrition by Fat Daddy’s Apiary

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feeding bees, honey bee nutrition, pollen, pollen substitute

As with all creatures, good nutrition is very important to a colony of bees. Many beekeepers only look at the amount of liquid stores a colony has, but pollen is equally important, yet often ignored. A lack of liquid stores can lead to starvation in both summer and winter, but a shortage of pollen can have a serious effect for some time, as poorly nourished larvae can result in poorly performing or unhealthy adults.

As a beekeeper, it is important to “read” a colony, because it is telling you something all the time. On each inspection, get into the habit of looking into a few cells where there are freshly hatched larvae, around 4-5 days from egg laying. If there is plenty of food coming in, the larvae will be in a big puddle of brood food, but if there is little food coming in, the bottoms of the cells will be almost dry. I wish this sort of observation was taught more by teachers.

Read full blog article here: Honey bee nutrition — Fat Daddy’s Apiary

Pros and Cons of Feeding Dry Pollen Sub by Bee Informed Partnership

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beekeeping management, pollen, pollen substitute

Most beekeepers have come to realize that due to lack of natural forage in our urban and agricultural landscapes, feeding pollen substitute has become necessary to keep bees healthy in most parts of the country. Last summer was an especially challenging season in the West due to extremely hot and dry conditions. Despite a wet spring in California and Oregon last year, the spigot was shut off abruptly early in the summer and what little forage was available quickly shriveled. Beekeepers who had not been providing supplemental feed saw their colonies dwindle as the summer went on. Although it’s still early, this year is looking like it could be similar.

Read the entire article here: Pros and Cons of Feeding Dry Pollen Sub — Bee Informed Partnership

Popcorn Bees

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humor, pollen substitute, popcorn bees

Yesterday some of my colonies were flying – some seem more cold tolerant than others and fly when the temps get to the upper 40s. Anyway, there was a fair number of bees hitting the dry pollen substitute from about noon to 4pm. I went out to do some work just before dark and while out decided to replenish the pollen feeders. I found a couple dozen bees inside that had missed the last opportunity to return to their hives and were in a state of torpor inside the feeders. Wanting to refill the feeders I dumped them and the leftover pollen substitute onto a baking pan before refilling the feeders. My thinking was I’d place them somewhere protected until it warmed up today. Most of the bees looked like popcorn after I dumped them – covered with pollen sub.

So after I refilled the feeders and placed them back on their poles I went to retrieve the baking pans to separate the pollen sub from the bees. They were gone. Everything was gone.

Then I spotted the culprit slinking off. My dog Buster had eaten the pollen sub and the bees. I wonder if he found them tasty? He’s still here his morning and seems no worse for it.