Brood Booster

Beekeepers commonly increase a colony’s population with pollen patties in the fall, to assist it through winter but any increase that exceeds a reasonable level may starve it before spring bloom.

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AP23 Winter Patties are high-carbohydrate patties designed for winter colonies that lack stores. Each one contains sugar, as well as small amounts of AP23 and Honey Bee Healthy to promote good health for bee colonies.

Contents

Brood Builder

Brood boosters (commonly referred to as pollen substitutes) are feeding stimulants designed to provide honey bees with all of the protein they require for optimal health, often added to sugar syrup, pollen patties or bee pollen to encourage colony expansion and stimulate colony growth.

A well-fed colony can better withstand stressors and diseases than one which has gone hungry, as well as lead to greater productivity for its keepers.

Brood builders should be utilized during late winter/early spring when natural food supplies for honey bees have diminished significantly. Supplementing them with protein rich winter patties will give your colonies an energy boost before spring flowers bloom and give them enough energy for reproduction.

Nutrient Supplement

Winter patties provide extra food to your hives in times when their pollen supply has diminished, helping them survive until spring arrives and they begin collecting nectar-bearing flowers to pollinate.

A pollen substitute patty made of sugar, AP23 (an excellent pollen replacement), and Honey-B-Healthy as a feeding stimulant can be placed directly onto top bars of a 10-frame hive using wax paper for easy placement.

Feed the bees gradually until their brood begins to increase in number. Doing this slowly will prevent SHB infestation, forcing bees to use up all their stored honey to feed themselves and the brood as well as cause more mouths to feed during cold days.

Emergency Winter Feeding

Pollen patties provide essential protein supplements during winter months when natural pollen becomes scarce or unavailable to bees.

Local advisory committees and Fish and Game staff monitor for factors like well below normal snow depth, an accumulation of ice or crust on the snow that hinders an animal from foraging for food, prolonged subzero temperatures, the concentration of wildlife in private orchards or croplands with problematic wildlife populations or public areas where people have issues with them, among other indicators, before making decisions regarding emergency feeding operations.

Betterbee offers pre-formulated Winter patties that you can simply place over your hive cluster in the middle of the brood box to provide carbohydrates and bee protein that attracts bees and stimulates brood production. This simple yet effective way of giving your colony enough protein during the winter can provide needed sustenance to maintain itself.

Spring Feeding

Once spring arrives, beehives require more than sugar syrup to thrive. Rearing brood requires an abundance of proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins which may not always be abundantly available through natural sources; to avoid starvation the bees must quickly consume these vital ingredients to stay alive and avoid becoming hungry.

An early spring pollen patty can help get bees off to a good start before natural spring pollen arrives and they start building large colonies. Unfortunately, beekeepers who offer only pollen patties before leaving them alone until natural pollen starts flowing can run into serious trouble if bees consume all of it and then produce too many brood and become hungry as their population continues to expand.

If you don’t have access to pollen patties, alternative solutions include sugar syrup feeders or creating your own using plastic zip-lock bags cut open with a slit in one end and placed above cluster bars (see our video No Fuss Feeder for instructions). When possible use granulated white cane sugar as this will reduce pesticide exposure for your bees.