You can feed bees by using a bee pollen substitute. Simply place a patty of pollen substitute above your bees’ brood nest. Honey bees love sugar. So, when you’re fed up with the taste of plain pollen, switch it up and use a different flavor. Bees will love the taste and won’t notice the difference! They will still be able to eat their honey, but without the unpleasant flavor of pollen.
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Premade pollen patties
Beekeepers can benefit from a variety of premade bee pollen patties to feed their bees. These patty-like confections come in 10-pound packaging and weigh approximately one pound. These patties have a shape and size of about 12-1/4 inches in length, 10-1/2 inches in width, and three inches in height. They are blended with a health aide, Pro Health, to encourage faster consumption and maximum nutritional value.
Bee pro patties are easily inserted into beehives. You can mix dry pollen substitute with sugar syrup to create a patty that bees will love. This mixture is best mixed before using as the pollen patties may run down the frames. If you use honey syrup, be sure to mix it with the dry pollen substitute before applying it to your beehives. The sugar syrup will also encourage your bees to eat more pollen patties.
Irradiated Western Australian pollen
Irradiated Western Australian bee pollent substitutes may help your bees survive an outbreak of American foulbrood. These pollen substitutes are available for sale from backroad beekeeping. This pollen is made 100% in the United States, and it has been proven to increase brood production. This pollen is irradiated at the recommended doses by government labs, and is free of chalkbrood, AFB, and other honeybee diseases.
Using pollen substitutes is an excellent option if you are unable to provide fresh honey for your bees. Honey bees are naturally attracted to fresh pollen, which makes it easier for them to digest. A study of different pollen substitutes found that fresh pollen is more attractive than older pollen. This can improve the palatability of commercial pollen substitutes and increase honeybee consumption.
Spirulina
Bees need protein to work the blooms, and spirulina can provide that. The microalga contains essential amino acids, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. In addition, it is relatively cheap to produce. There are a few differences between pollen and spirulina. Read on to learn more about the difference between pollen and spirulina.
This study tested a variety of diets including commercial PS, dry spirulina, and fresh laboratory-grown spirulina. A total of 51 cages were established to test 4 different spirulina diets. Bees were randomly assigned to cages and analyzed for molecular and physiological responses to varying spirulina diets.
Sucrose
Bees often overeat pollen substitutes, reconstituted with sugar syrup to make it more palatable. While a substitute is not a suitable replacement for pollen, it is a good alternative for emergency situations. Bees may actually prefer the taste of sugar syrup to natural pollen, which they also store in comb cells. They may also find pollen substitutes more appealing than bee bread.
Although many pollen substitute studies lack a proper control group, they should be paired with results from a field study. This is a more reliable method, because the results are more comparable when both types of studies are conducted. If the results of the two types of studies differ from each other, it could be a result of environmental variables influencing pollen substitute efficacy. Consequently, pollen substitutes may not be a beneficial investment for beekeepers and may actually have negative consequences for the health of colonies.
Sucrose-based pollen patties
Pollen patties are often used by beekeepers to supplement their brood population in the winter and late spring. These patties are made from a combination of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. These nutrients help the bees grow strong, healthy brood, and also provide a boost to the hive’s population. Bee pollen patties are easy to use and can be dropped onto wax paper for bees to consume.
In the UK, many farmers have lost their hedgerows and planted housing estates in their yards, preventing the bees from getting the nutrients they need to survive. Those areas with green fields are lacking in natural pollinator habitat, so they rely on food supplements to survive. These can be in the form of sugar syrup, fondant, or pollen patties. Pollen patties have proven to be highly effective for feeding bees.
