Autumn feeding

[Herbalist]

We have had a poor July and I have a LOT of bees and brood with very little honey stores. I am feeding heavy syrup and they are drinking it down at a good rate. What I want to know is - should I also be feeding them pollen substitute as well? I don't want the poor little beggars starving over winter. I know sugar is their enegy and pollen their protein but I am not sure how much protein they need over winter as they are making very little brood. Is it safe to give it to them and let them decide, or could it stimulate excessive brood-production leading to starvation from an over-large hive population?

 

[Erichalfbee]

We have had a poor July and I have a LOT of bees and brood with very little honey stores. I am feeding heavy syrup and they are drinking it down at a good rate. What I want to know is - should I also be feeding them pollen substitute as well? I don't want the poor little beggars starving over winter. I know sugar is their enegy and pollen their protein but I am not sure how much protein they need over winter as they are making very little brood. Is it safe to give it to them and let them decide, or could it stimulate excessive brood-production leading to starvation from an over-large hive population?

How much pollen in the brood box?
Have you got ivy available for them to forage?

If none and no then I might give them one ultrabee patty but not otherwise. Ivy provides pollen and nectar

 

[REDWOOD]

Balsam pollen is piling in at the moment


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Hivemaker.]

What I want to know is - should I also be feeding them pollen substitute as well?

No, as your bees apparently have lots of balsam pollen piling in.

 

[pargyle]

No, as your bees apparently have lots of balsam pollen piling in.

Naughty naughty Pete - this IS the Beginners section ...

 

[Herbalist]

How much pollen in the brood box?
Have you got ivy available for them to forage?

If none and no then I might give them one ultrabee patty but not otherwise. Ivy provides pollen and nectar

Thx for that. There is a lot of ivy locally and I have been out to check that it is in flower. It is and there are a LOT of unopened buds so there is much more to come. I will hold off pollen feeding.

 

[BernardBlack]

Plenty of ivy locally here. Will the pollen collected from the ivy sustain the hive over the winter?

 

[beeno]

Plenty of ivy locally here. Will the pollen collected from the ivy sustain the hive over the winter?

Not necessarily as mine gobbled it all up one autumn. However, there is early pollen available and if not the winter bees can raise some early spring brood on their fat bodies alone.

 

[BernardBlack]

So it's a tricky thing to get right then? Leaving a hive overwintering hoping they have sufficient pollen stores, I mean.

Fondant can be used in place of syrup but what's the options in place of pollen?

 

[Herbalist]

So it's a tricky thing to get right then? Leaving a hive overwintering hoping they have sufficient pollen stores, I mean.

Fondant can be used in place of syrup but what's the options in place of pollen?

I have been chewing this over since my original post. Bees eat honey which is almost pure sugars (energy). If my understanding is correct they do not eat pollen. So where do they get their protein for growth and repair? I think that the answer might be that they don't. As a summer bee has a life expectancy of 6-8 weeks it is (from an evolutionary perspective) disposable. When it malfunctions it dies and is replaced. All the protein absorption is done by the larvae that have the enzymes to digest bee-bread. I suspect that on emerging from the pupae, the workers have all the protein that they are ever going to have.
This regime would mean that the queen would die quite quickly, but we know she can live for 4 to 5 years. However - the queen does not live on honey. She gets queen bee jelly which contains amino acids which are the building blocks of protein. She therefore must have a protein-based repair mechanism.
This has implications for autumn feeding. Pollen is needed for the larvae rearing. In winter the hive is on tick-over and rearing very little brood. The need for protein is therefore likely to be very low indeed. This argues for heavy sugar feed so the hive does not run out of energy, but pollen feed is likely to be wasted. I am going to hold off feeding pollen.

 

[Beefriendly]

I have been chewing this over since my original post. Bees eat honey which is almost pure sugars (energy). If my understanding is correct they do not eat pollen. So where do they get their protein for growth and repair?

Perhaps your understanding is incorrect?
Bees need pollen for growth after emergence and also for brood food. Once mature their need is negligible