Nutrition and Forage Needs

Much like for humans, optimal nutrition is imperative for maintaining healthy and productive honey bee colonies. 

Honey bees gather pollen and nectar from flowering plants, which supply essential nutrients necessary for sustaining life. Habitat loss and decreasing access to natural forage have become significant stressors for honey bee health. 

The scarcity of abundant forage is a critical issue that both researchers and beekeepers are actively addressing. Within the honey bee pollination and honey production cycle, almonds are the first major crop to bloom, providing nutrients during the crucial early-season growth of honey bee colonies. 

Almond pollen itself is nutrient-dense, but a varied diet benefits honeybees. Through the efforts of the Almond Board of California and the Project Apis m. Seeds for Bees program, almond growers are being encouraged to provide supplemental forage alongside almond crops. This has been shown to yield both immediate and long-term benefits for colonies. A common concern among growers is that supplemental forage might divert bees from their target crops and negatively impact pollination of the almond crop; however, research indicates this is not the case. 

When honeybees are not pollinating almond crops – which is for the majority of the year – access to adequate forage and nutritional sources is becoming increasingly challenging for beekeepers. While natural forage is ideal, factors such as climate change, prolonged droughts, increasing wildfires, and restricted access to public lands make it increasingly difficult for beekeepers to rely solely on natural forage year round. 

Access to both public and private lands is particularly problematic. Concerns about the impact of commercial honeybees on local hobby beekeeping operations and native bee species are growing. Commercial beekeepers are finding they are restricted from foraging bees on public lands by local, state and federal governments. 

Consequently, most beekeepers must provide supplemental diets at least part of the year. Beekeepers either create their own recipes, or purchase commercially available supplements. Developing an optimal bee diet is complicated by factors such as seasonality and varying environmental conditions that influence a hive’s specific nutritional needs. 

The critical need for better honey bee nutrition could be improved significantly by increasing forage opportunities and expanding access to existing public lands year-round. Research indicates that since nutrition is vital for the health of all pollinators, not just honey bees, allowing more access to lands by commercial honeybees would benefit broader pollinator communities.