Spring feeding and pollen

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Why spring is the hungry time

In March and April the colony grows and rears more and more brood, and it uses up its food fast. At that point it should have at least four to five combs of stores, about 9 kg. 1

Starvation is a common cause of losing a colony, especially in early spring. 3 A cold, wet spring is the worst case: the bees have eaten last year’s stores and cannot get out to gather more. 3

It is better to have left enough honey, or fed enough, in the autumn than to feed in an emergency in the spring. 1

Checking the food

Hefting the hive shows when the stores are running low. It does not show whether the food is next to the bees. A cluster can eat through the stores on one side and starve beside full frames on the other. 1 Starvation and emergency feeding covers that, and a colony already starving.

Sugar in spring: thin syrup

If the bees are short of stores in spring, feed thin syrup: 1 kg of white granulated sugar in 1260 ml of warm water. The bees can use it straight away. 1

• Use white granulated or caster sugar, from cane or beet. Never brown or raw sugar, which gives the bees dysentery. 1
• A contact feeder, a bucket upside down over the crown board hole, keeps the syrup close to the bees, so they can reach it in cool weather. That makes it the one for spring. A frame feeder in the brood box works too. 1
• Do not feed syrup in cold weather: the bees cannot process it. In very cold weather, use fondant. 1
• Never feed honey from an unknown source. It can carry the spores of American foulbrood and the bacteria of European foulbrood. 1

Making sugar syrup has the strengths side by side.

Feeding to build up

Thin syrup also encourages the bees to draw foundation in a second brood box and grow early. It is well worth doing once the willow is flowering, which gives them pollen, and it means old brood combs can be changed early in the year. 1

To rear brood, bees need honey or sugar, water and pollen. So: 1

• Make sure they are close to early pollen, or give them pollen patties.
• Make sure they have enough stores, or feed thin syrup.
• Make sure they can reach clean water, or give them a water feeder.

Pollen

Pollen is where honey bees get their protein, and their fats, vitamins and minerals. Brood food is made from it. When pollen runs short, the bees rear less brood, and at worst none. 2 To rear brood they need honey or sugar, water and pollen. 1

Bees mostly gather pollen as they need it, and prefer it fresh to stored, so do not assume there is enough in the hive. Shortages happen, particularly in a spell of poor weather. If a colony is short, feed a pollen substitute, or give it frames of pollen from another colony in the apiary that has plenty. 2

The best guarantee is plenty of different pollen plants within flying range, through the season. 2 An apiary near early pollen gets its colonies going sooner. 3 Planting for bees in autumn covers adding some.

Feeding your own pollen

• Only move pollen from a colony you have checked and are confident is free of disease. 2
• Keep it in paper or plastic bags in a freezer at -18 °C, and use it as soon as it thaws. 2
• Put a frame of freshly thawed pollen in a shallow dish close to the feed hole. 2

Collecting and selling pollen covers the traps.

Pollen substitutes

You can buy a substitute from a beekeeping supplier or make one. Home-made ones vary in food value with what goes into them, so a bought one is generally better: its quality is assured. 2

The National Bee Unit’s home-made recipe, which makes a little over 750 g: 2

• 240 g soya flour, 80 g dried brewer’s yeast and 80 g skimmed milk powder.
• Dissolve 220 g of white granulated sugar in 110 ml of warm water. It can take 5 to 10 minutes of stirring.
• Work the syrup into the dry mix by hand until it is an even paste, soft and pliable but not sticky.
• Shape it into cakes and wrap them in greaseproof paper. They can go in the freezer until needed.

It contains no pollen. The protein comes from the soya and the yeast. 2

Cut a small hole in the paper and lay the cake hole side down on the top bars, over the cluster and preferably over open brood. Keep the paper on: the cake has to stay moist or the bees ignore it. 2

• How much: it varies with the colony, its brood and the forage. As a guide, a small colony on three frames may need around 50 g a week, a strong one up to 500 g. 2
• How long: until there is enough natural pollen. Stopping sooner can starve the larvae. 2
• Not with supers on: the bees may try to store the substitute in the supers, so it is best kept for when there are none on the hive. 4
• If pollen is short year after year, the site may lack forage: think about moving the colonies. The signs are less brood, patchy brood, little pollen stored round it, and larvae being taken out of cells. 2

The short version

• March and April eat the stores fast. A colony wants at least four to five combs, about 9 kg.
• Short of stores? Thin syrup, 1 kg of white sugar in 1260 ml of warm water, in a contact feeder.
• Too cold for syrup? Fondant.
• Brood needs sugar, water and pollen. Early pollen near the hives is the best answer.
• Short of pollen? A bought substitute, kept moist over the brood, until natural pollen is in.
• Never feed honey from an unknown source.