Vitamin Bee?

The Importance Objectives

of Honey Bee Nutrition
• What bees need‐ water, carbohydrates, protein, fats &
Dr. Tracy Farone, DVM Professor of Biology
trace nutrients
Grove City College, Grove City, PA
• When bees need certain nutrients
• Supplemental feeding
• Good nutrition= Good immunity= Ability to deal with
stressors =Healthy hive

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Natural Forage Problems with Natural Forage

• It’s seasonal, dependent on weather
• Destruction of natural habitat &
fragmentation
• Monoagricultural landscapes
• Pesticides are everywhere
• Migratory beekeeping
• It’s difficult to “fence in” bees

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Water What is Honey?

• To maintain thermoregulation & humidity
Product of nectar & honey dew
• Dilute honey & produce brood food
Carried by honey stomach
• Not stored in hive Trophallaxis
Enzymes
• Beekeeper can help supply Glucose & Fructose
Dehydrated 18%
Capped, Preserved, Stored

• Usually not a problem in PA…lately 40‐80 lbs needed for

overwintering

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Question: What is Pollen?
How many flowers to fill up the honey stomach/a bee trip? • Brought back by hairs & pollen baskets
• Source of protein
• Also lipids, vitamins, minerals (more research coming here)
• Need diversity for good nutrition
• Bee bread‐ storage form, needs symbiotic microbes to
ferment
• Very important in brood rearing, indicator of hive health

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Nutritional needs of different bees Seasonal nutritional needs

• Workers – eat honey/pollen • Spring build‐up – may be most critical time
• Drones & Queen are often fed by others • Summer/Fall derth/s
• Larvae are feed different jellies‐brood food( a mixture of • Winter, winter cluster
gland secretions & honey/pollen)
• New colonies/swarms
• Royal jelly/queen jelly
• Re‐queening

• The hive also needs propolis‐resin

• We pretty much have to do this now…know your colony

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Honey & Pollen in the Hive Sugar feeding

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Types, Timing & Methods Types, Timing & Methods
• Various feeding systems Important in drawing new wax
• Various sugar products on the Helpful for medication delivery
market or homemade(white cane sugar)
Syrup 1:1, 2:1, cake/candy in winter Be careful feeding honey‐disease!
Do not feed lactose/galactose‐toxic!
Don’t feed when honey supers Powdered sugar may can gut problems
are on

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Pollen feeder ‐ exterior Types, Timing & Methods

• Pollen supplements/substitute can be purchased and fed in
or outside the hive
• Various opinions on what and how
• Most important in late winter/early Spring
or when you want to raise brood
• Patties or pellets

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Look at reserves & weight Become a botanist and a weather watcher

https://app.beescape.org/ ‐analysis of your

apiary area in PA
Randy Oliver Scientificbekeeping.com photo credit
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A troubled hive Starvation‐ why?

Wet brood 

Add Randy Oliver Scientificbekeeping.com photo credit

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Colony Lifecycle & the Environment

Bee informed survey data
• https://bip2.beeinformed.org/survey/

• Malnutrition is considered to be a major contributing factor

to colony collapse
• “Starvation” is considered to be a major cause of hive
collapse/death

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References Questions?
• A Field Guide to Honey Bees and their Maladies, The Mid‐Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension
Consortium (MAAREC) with USDA cooperation, 2015.

• Honey Bees: A Guide for Veterinarians. American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), 2017.

• Milbrath, Meghan, instructor, “Bees and Veterinary Medicine 2018”, VIN on‐line course completed April 2018. Dr. Tracy Farone
• Ritter, Wolfgang, ed. OIE: Bee Health and Veterinarians, 2014. tsfarone@gcc.edu
• Sammataro, Diana and Avitabile, Alphonse. The Beekeeper’s Handbook, 4th ed. Cornell University Press, 2011.

• Shimanuki, Hachiro and Knox, David. USDA – Diagnosis of Honey Bee Diseases, Agricultural Handbook, #690, https://pabeevet.com
2000.

• Vidal‐Naquet, Nicolas. Honeybee Veterinary Medicine: Apis mellifera L., 5m Publishing, 2015.

• http://scientificbeekeeping.com/
Thank you!
• Honey Bee Diseases & Pests, 3rd Ed., Stephen Pernal and Heather Clay eds., Canadian Assoc. of Professional
Apiculturists, 2013.

• Sallmann, Ben, Snyder, Rob. Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Honey Bee Diseases. Bee Informed
Partnership.

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