What do Bees Eat?

Bees are interesting creatures with diverse diets that play a crucial role in their survival. While honey bees are most common, other bees and insects have their own unique dietary requirements. In this guide, you will learn the specifics of what honey bees eat. And, how the nutritional requirements of different members of the hive vary. We will also take a brief look at what other bees types of bees and insects eat.

Being a beekeeper, I pride myself on attempting to know a lot of honey bee facts! But, you may be surprised that many people don’t understand the basics of the bee diet.

What do Honey Bees Eat?

Let’s start with one of the most popular insects in the world – and the one I know most about. Everyone knows that plant nectar is used by honey bees to make honey.

And, honey is a primary food source for adult honey bees – but other substances play a role. And the daily diet varies depending on availability, seasons and the needs of the colony.

• nectar
• pollen
• honey
• royal jelly

Nectar for Bees

Honey bees work hard during the warm months. Every day thousands of female workers leave the hive to collect resources for the colony. They visit blooming plants that secrete sweet nectar to lure in pollinators-like bees.

Bees help flowers produce seed and flowers feed bees with with wonderful energy source. Working bees that gather nectar may enjoy a sip if they are very hungry. But, fresh nectar is not their primary food source.

Liquid nectar is collected into a structure called the “honey stomach” and taken back to the hive. Fresh nectar has a high moisture content – making it unsuitable for long term storage. So, honey bees convert it into a more stable form – that we call honey.

Pollen in the Honey Bee Diet

Some plants depend on pollination in order to produce fruit or seed. Visiting bees often move sticky pollen grains from one flower to the next – accidentally as they search for nectar. This is good for the plants.

But, pollen is a rich source of protein for the bee colony. It is necessary for rearing bee brood. Therefore, honey bees do intentionally collect pollen. And, I am sure you have seen the colorful little balls on their hind legs.

The foraging bee lands on a flower and wets grains of pollen with saliva. Using her legs, the pollen is shaped into a ball and pushed onto stiff hairs on her hind legs – pollen baskets. This is a special structure of bee anatomy that help her do her job.

Storing & Consumption

Raw pollen is not easy to digest for bees and the grains have a thick outer shell. Possessing rather strong mandibles (jaws) – bees do not have teeth to chew up pollen grains.

Honey bees eat stored pollen in the form of bee bread. Bee bread is a mixture of pollen, honey and saliva containing enzymes.

This causes the pollen to ferment – making it easier for the bees to digest. It also keeps the pollen from spoiling while it is stored in the comb for months.

Not all of the honey bees in the hive eat pollen. The protein found in pollen is necessary for growth and development of bee larvae.

Young adults called nurse bees consume pollen to stimulate their brood food glands and produce food for young. Older adults who are not feeding young do not need this extra protein.

Once adults reach the age to become field bees or outside workers. They are no longer capable of digesting pollen. From that time on, adult members of the hive only eat honey and nectar.

Why Bees Eat Honey

Honey bees are special in that they maintain year round colonies. They may not be active during the cold months of Winter but they survive inside the hive.

This would not be possible without stored food to provide their bodies with energy and heat. This is why that work so hard during the warm season to gather and convert raw nectar into honey.

Nectar (with a high water content) would spoil. Honey however, is a condensed energy source that stores well long term.

Royal Jelly

Royal Jelly is a milky secretion produced by the hypopharyngeal glands located in the sides of the head of young adults – nurse bees.

For years, we believed royal jelly was the sole diet of queen honey bees. But, now it seems that this substance is even more mysterious than previously thought.

Now researchers are questioning the exact composition of the food fed when rearing queens. It is a part of the diet of developing brood but is not the sole determining factor of whether or not a female larvae becomes a queen.

All young bee larvae eat royal jelly for the first 3 days. After that time, the diet changes depending on the life track of the developing bee.

Season Variations in Honey Bee Diet

A variety of nutritional substances are needed to ensure healthy honey bees. Carbohydrates are energy sources served up in a concentrated form as honey.

Pollen provides that protein needed for rearing young. And, a range of nutrients including vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and anti-oxidants round out the nutritional needs of our bees.

Other Food Sources for Honey Bees

Sometimes, honey bees receive food from non-flower sources. The two that come to mind are:

• honeydew
• beekeeper feeding

Honeydew is the sweet secretions of other insects such as aphids. These insect secretions are collected and can be made into honey – in some parts of the world Honeydew Honey is quite popular.

In some situations, beekeepers may decide to feed the colonies. Feeding bees sugar water is the most common practice to help bees survive.

Not as nutritious as real honey – it can prevent colony failure during a nectar dearth or during early Spring.

What do Other Insects Eat?

Honey bees are great but the world of insects is very diverse. Thousands of solitary bees, bumble bees and others have their own lifestyles and eating habits.

Honey bees and Bumble bees are closely related and they have a similar diet. Collecting pollen and nectar – though Bumble bees do not make large quantities of honey. They don’t need it as the whole colony does not overwinter.

What about their cousins – the wasps. Bees and wasps are kin but they have some major differences in diet and lifestyle. Wasps are predators to hunt and eat insects. They do not need to collect pollen for protein.

Honey Bees Do Not Eat Insects

Honey bees do not eat meat for protein. They do not prey on other insects. However, they are not “strict” vegetarians.

If the colony is nearing starvation, workers will eat bee eggs and larva. This is a last ditch effort to use any resources available to save the colony population at a time when food is scarce.

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