Feeding Pollen and Substitutes

Pollen feeding means giving bees, inside the hive, a protein feed containing real pollen, a pollen supplement or a pollen substitute during periods when pollen is absent or scarce in nature. The aim is to meet the protein needs of the nurse bees rearing brood; syrup and fondant do not meet this need.

Why is pollen important for bees?

Pollen is the honey bee's only natural source of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Forager bees carry pollen in the pollen baskets on their hind legs, pack it into cells in the hive and mix it with honey and secretions to turn it into bee bread (perga).

• Royal jelly and larval food: Young nurse bees eat pollen to develop their glands and feed the larvae. A colony without pollen cannot raise brood.
• Long-lived winter bees: Bees that emerge from well-fed larvae in autumn carry larger nutrient reserves in their bodies and overwinter better.
• Immunity and resilience: Pollen collected from a variety of plants provides a more balanced diet than pollen from a single source.

When should you feed pollen to bees?

Giving protein from outside is usually unnecessary while natural pollen is available. Pollen feed makes sense in the following situations:

• Late winter – early spring: If the queen has started laying but no pollen-producing plants are yet in flower.
• Long pollen dearth: Periods when pollen intake stops for weeks because of drought, heavy rain or monoculture farmland.
• Autumn: If pollen is scarce in nature while the winter bees are being reared.
• Special production: Queen rearing, royal jelly production and building up splits quickly.

To judge the need for pollen, look around the brood nest: on a healthy brood frame there is a band of pollen right around the brood. If there are hardly any bee bread cells, the brood is patchy and no pollen-laden bees are seen at the entrance, a protein shortage is likely.

Pollen vs pollen supplement vs pollen substitute

How do you make pollen patties?

Commercial pollen patties and substitutes made for bees are the easiest option because of their balanced composition. If you are going to make a home-made mix, a common example is:

1. Dry mix: By weight, mix about 3 parts defatted, heat-treated soy flour, 1 part brewer's yeast (inactive) and 1 part pollen from your own apiary. The higher the proportion of pollen, the more interested the bees are in the patty.
2. Binder: Add thick sugar syrup to the mix little by little to get a soft dough that does not stick to your hands.
3. Shaping: Flatten the dough into 250–500 g flat pieces between two sheets of greaseproof paper or plastic.
4. Storage: Patties not used straight away are kept in the fridge or freezer.

How do you give pollen patties to a hive?

1. Choose the spot: Put the patty directly above the brood nest, on the top bars of the frames. The nurse bees are close to the brood.
2. Open the paper partly: Tear or lift the bottom paper in a few places; leave the top side covered so the patty does not dry out.
3. Give little and often: Give as much as the bees can eat in one to two weeks. A patty left for a long time dries out, goes mouldy or attracts pests.
4. Monitor consumption: Fast consumption shows a need; an untouched patty means either there is no need or the patty is too far from the cluster.
5. Stop when natural pollen starts: Once plenty of pollen is seen coming in at the entrance, extra protein is usually unnecessary.

Is a pollen trap the same as pollen feeding?

No. A pollen trap (pollen collector) is a perforated grid fitted at the entrance; it collects part of the pollen loads by knocking them off the legs of bees entering the hive. In other words, a trap is for harvesting pollen, not for giving pollen to the colony. If the trap stays on permanently, the colony can run short of protein; that is why it is used intermittently and not fitted to weak colonies.

Pollen collected from healthy colonies in your own apiary and immediately dried or frozen can later be given back to colonies in the same apiary inside pollen patties. This is much safer than buying in pollen.

Bee bread frame: the most natural protein supplement

Taking a frame full of pollen (a bee bread frame) from a strong, healthy colony and placing it next to the brood nest of a colony short of pollen is the most natural protein support. To do this you must be sure that both colonies are free of disease; moving frames from a diseased colony is the fastest way to spread disease.

Common mistakes and risks

• Giving protein too early: The brood nest expands early; in a cold spell the cluster may not be able to cover this brood, and stores run out fast.
• Not checking stores: As the brood grows, honey consumption increases. Carbohydrate stores must also be watched in a colony being fed pollen.
• Putting on large pieces: An uneaten patty dries out and goes mouldy; in warm regions it can attract small hive beetle and other pests.
• Forgetting varroa: A rapidly growing brood nest also speeds up the reproduction of the varroa mite. Monitor mite levels in colonies receiving protein feed.
• Putting out dry pollen substitute in the open: Placing powdered feed in open containers in the apiary favours strong colonies and makes it easier for diseases to spread between bees.