Quantcast
Channel: nutrition – Honey Bee Suite
Browsing all 35 articles
Browse latest View live

Monoculture diets and honey bee health

As I mentioned in an earlier post, pollen is virtually the only source a colony has for protein, lipids, vitamins, and minerals. Colonies that pollinate large monocultures—such as almonds—have a severe...

View Article



Pollen: a tough package wrapped in color

One of the first thing beekeepers notice about pollen is its color. Depending on where you live, pollen loads come in many shades of yellow, white, orange, pink, blue, gray, and purple. And because...

View Article

Uncapped honey fermenting in the comb

To produce honey, bees collect nectar, add enzymes from their honey stomachs, and fan the mixture with their wings until it dehydrates to a moisture content of about 16 to 18.5 percent. If the moisture...

View Article

The CCD connection: what I believe about colony collapse disorder

Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn’t mention colony collapse disorder to me, either in person, in an e-mail or comment, or on the phone. “I hear they found the cause of CCD!” is a statement I’ve...

View Article

Honey bee forage: pussy willow

A male pussy willow is one of the best trees for the bee yard because it will bloom especially early in the year. Beekeepers often plant them close to the apiary to help the bees through the...

View Article


Monday morning myth: alder pollen is bad for bees

I don’t know if this rumor is everywhere, but you certainly hear it here in the Pacific Northwest and in southwestern Canada. We have a lot of red alder (Alnus rubra) in this area, so that’s probably...

View Article

Honey bee forage: hardy kiwi

The hardy kiwi or “northern kiwi” (Actinidia arguta) is a vine that produces thousands of small, smooth-skinned kiwis about the size of large grapes. The plants are dioecious, meaning male and female...

View Article

What vitamins should I give to my bees?

I am in no way an expert on honey bee nutrition. But in the past few years—especially since the advent of colony collapse disorder—many knowledgeable people have been studying bee nutrition under the...

View Article


Pollen variety and bee health

Yesterday I wrote that bees need a continuous supply of flowering plants such that something is always in bloom. I also mentioned that different types of bees prefer different types of flowers. What I...

View Article


Love that dirty water

The song “Dirty Water” was released by the Standells in 1966, but it could have been written by your local bee colony. It seems honey bees prefer water that most of us would consider unpalatable. I...

View Article

Protein and the hypopharyngeal gland

Honey bee nutrition is a hot topic these days. Due to their work in monoculture crops, honey bee colonies may not be receiving a well-balanced and complete diet. The surrounding landscape is changing...

View Article

Tea in the honey bee diet

I have always shrugged off the idea of “bee tea” as ridiculous, a feel-good indulgence for beekeepers with too much time and money on their hands. The idea that bee health could be augmented by an...

View Article

An act of defiance

Honey bee nutrition is getting a lot of press these days, and rightfully so. Many bee experts—including Marla Spivak, Zachary Huang, and Randy Oliver—believe that a lack of good nutrition may be a...

View Article


The CCD connection: what I believe about colony collapse disorder

Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn’t mention colony collapse disorder to me, either in person, in an e-mail or comment, or on the phone. “I hear they found the cause of CCD!” is a statement I’ve...

View Article

Honey bee forage: pussy willow

A male pussy willow is one of the best trees for the bee yard because it will bloom especially early in the year. Beekeepers often plant them close to the apiary to help the bees through the...

View Article


Monday morning myth: alder pollen is bad for bees

I don’t know if this rumor is everywhere, but you certainly hear it here in the Pacific Northwest and in southwestern Canada. We have a lot of red alder (Alnus rubra) in this area, so that’s probably...

View Article

Honey bee forage: hardy kiwi

The hardy kiwi or “northern kiwi” (Actinidia arguta) is a vine that produces thousands of small, smooth-skinned kiwis about the size of large grapes. The plants are dioecious, meaning male and female...

View Article


What vitamins should I give to my bees?

I am in no way an expert on honey bee nutrition. But in the past few years—especially since the advent of colony collapse disorder—many knowledgeable people have been studying bee nutrition under the...

View Article

Pollen variety and bee health

Yesterday I wrote that bees need a continuous supply of flowering plants such that something is always in bloom. I also mentioned that different types of bees prefer different types of flowers. What I...

View Article

Love that dirty water

The song “Dirty Water” was released by the Standells in 1966, but it could have been written by your local bee colony. It seems honey bees prefer water that most of us would consider unpalatable. I...

View Article
Browsing all 35 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images