Pollen Subs NOW?

And the Answer is... Probably So!

As we embark on what will no doubt be a long hot summer, supplementing pollen can accomplish three primary goals throughout the year:

1. Preventing nutritional deficits during pollen dearths. If you have a hot dry summer or a late spring freeze, and thus little to no pollen producing plants, your hive can begin to starve nutritionally if sufficient pollen and pollen variety is not present. When this happens, the bees begin to cannibalize the brood, which dramatically reduces the health and population of the hive. Feeding pollen substitute and syrup during these dearths can save your hive!
2. Feeding 2-3 months before the first freeze helps our bees rear healthy babies going into the winter by ensuring they have all the nutrients needed. In essence, during the late summer & early fall workers rear a different kind of bee...a “winter bee” that is raised to live much longer than summer bees. These winter bees need a nutritionally complete diet to have the fat stores & immune system needed to survive the winter. With a poor pollen flow, or a single source pollen that isn’t 

Watch Blake show us how to determine if your hive needs pollen supplemented

nutritionally sufficient (think eating nothing but pizza), they won’t be able to raise healthy winter bees. Feeding pollen substitute and syrup if needed, ensures they have the needed protein and nutrition to successfully raise winter bees. 

3. To extend brood rearing, feed pollen substitute approximately a month after the first freeze, and 2 weeks before your first pollen blooming plants in the spring. This helps the bees rear brood later and longer than normal. It also helps increase the hive's population, which is always a good thing!