Pollen is the bees’ main source of protein, and is required for muscle growth in brood and young adult bees. Different pollen will contain different amounts of Protein, but bees need pollen with at least 20% protein before they can use it. Quality is a factor as well as quantity. Bees store protein in their body, and use it to build up fat reserves. The higher the level of protein in their bodies, the stronger the bees are and the longer they can live.
Bees can have a very high body-protein of over 60% crude protein, at which time they are strong, long-lived bees, with the ability to collect lots of honey. Or at the other extreme they can have low body-protein of less than 30% (Kleinschmidt 1988). When bees have low body-protein they will live only a short time, suffer from diseases like European brood disease (EBD) and nosema, and be very poor honey producers.
Bees require protein at different rates, according to the level of stress they are under. By understanding the concept of bee stress, beekeepers are able to make better management decisions about bee nutrition.
Low stress
Low stress hives show little activity. The bees may be breeding at a constant rate, there is little or no honey to gather, the air temperature is warm (above 20oC) and their needs are small. Under such conditions, bee hives will increase their body-protein, and maintain or slowly increase their populations if they can collect pollen at 12% to 15% crude protein. Under such conditions hives will develop to a reasonable strength in six to eight weeks. This can be observed when bees are collecting ground flora such as flatweed (false dandelion). During nutrition trials at Wollongbar Agricultural Institute in 1993, hives foraging only on flatweed increased their body-protein from 40% to 60% in six weeks. The hives did not store honey or increase in size. However, the low stress allowed the hives to develop high body-protein (Stace personal observation).
High stress situations
Honey bees in a high stress situation require surplus pollen with a digestible crude protein level greater than 20%. The higher the stress the greater their need for protein.
High stress in beehives occurs when:
. the bees are on a honey flow. The heavier the honey flow the greater the stress.
. the bees are increasing their breeding rate or brood area, as occurs in spring or during a high nectar stimulated breeding program. (Stace 1994)
. it is too cool or too hot (below 20°C or over 35°C) and the bees are working hard for their pollen and nectar.
Neopoll is a great Pollen Supplement to help make sure your colonies have the Pollen intake that they require, especially as Spring is now approaching.
