Bees often need food when natural pollen resources become limited in early spring or fall, when natural resources may not. A powdered pollen substitute should be placed into an external feeder which is accessible but protected from raindrops.
Unstable pollen supplementation could increase the chances of European Foul Brood outbreaks.
Contents
1. Dry Pollen Substitute
Dry pollen substitute is a powder that can be placed in any open feeder (anything that keeps feed dry will do) to attract bees foraging on it. You can also form pollen patties using this same powder by mixing it with high fructose corn syrup or sugar syrup and shaping into patties before placing them into an open feeder.
Benefits of bee feed that are offered during times when there is no natural pollen available include stimulating brood rearing in autumn to prepare bees for building their stores prior to spring nectar flow onset, particularly useful in areas with short spring seasons.
Be wary not to overuse this form of feed: in areas with strong year-round pollen flows that include multiple sources, pollen substitute should only be necessary when there are major summer droughts or freezes that limit foraging opportunities.
2. Pollen Patties
These pre-made patties provide all of the proteins and other necessary elements needed for raising healthy brood, along with vitamins and minerals essential for colony growth and honey production.
Pollen patties can help an over-wintering hive quickly ramp up brood production in late winter and early Spring before natural sources of pollen become abundant. But only use them if your hive truly requires them; do not feed them during times like autumn when natural pollen sources are abundant; stop providing them as soon as the weather warms and you see bees increasing production without needing extra help from pollen patties.
To achieve the best results, place pollen patties in the center of a beehive cluster on top bars. Smoke it gently before letting bees take it from there. The amount of pollen patties used will determine their consumption rate and nutritional value – Global Patties offer products with 4, 10, or 15% protein content to meet your hive’s specific requirements.
3. Honey
Honey is a thick and viscous liquid food produced by bees from nectar collected from flowering plants. Their long tongues extract this nectar and bring it back to their hive where bees convert it to honey using an enzyme known as invertase which breaks sucrose down into glucose and fructose sugars.
Bees use this conversion to store large amounts of honey in a smaller space without risk of spoilage or fermentation, providing food sources when flowers are scarce.
Honey bees add honey to their pollen stores for use during reproduction, and its protein helps develop brood cells for new brood. Honey also provides essential nutrition such as amino acids such as threonine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine and phenylalanine that contributes to overall bee health.
4. Syrup
Hives with very low honey stores often need supplemental feedings of syrup. A common ratio for supplement feedings is 2:1 sugar to water with some form of acidifying agent such as lemon juice or vinegar added.
Beekeepers sometimes add plant extracts such as cinnamon to their syrup in order to increase the ability of their colonies to build wax foundation. Doing this may also increase how much beeswax they secrete as well as provide additional nutrition.
To create syrup, fill a plastic freezer bag roughly halfway with sugar syrup, punch or drill 6 to 8 very small holes into its lid (remove any cardboard insert commonly found on jar lids), place on frames in your hive with risers if necessary so bees can access easily, and keep an eye out for any risers that might rise above hive cover – bees will then easily access this form of feed; this method works especially well during spring and summer when natural nectar sources can readily supply nectar-rich flowers nearby!