Bee Nutrition

Observations on Pollen Subs: Part 4- Nectar, Water, and Humidity

Observations on Pollen Subs: Part 4 Nectar, Water, and Humidity First published in ABJ January 2022 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com Last month I pointed out that there is something about even a light natural pollen flow that seems to increase a colony’s response to fed pollen sub. But a light pollen flow is often also […]

A Comparative Trial of the Pollen Subs: Part 6- Do We Need to Revise De Groot?

A COMPARATIVE TRIAL OF THE POLLEN SUBS Part 6: DO WE NEED TO REVISE DE GROOT? Beekeeper-Funded Research First Published in ABJ December 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com Bee nutritionists have long cited the essential amino acid ratios suggested by de Groot in 1953. But he himself pointed out the shortcomings of his methods and qualified […]

A Comparative Trial of the Pollen Subs: Part 5– Revisiting de Groot

Contents Diving into de groot Understanding what De Groot did The problem with normalizing to tryptophan Re-interpreting de groot’s findings Protein conversion — Patty into bees Justus von Liebig’s Law of the Minimum and essential amino acids My diet calculator So how about the tested diets? The homebrew formulation Not yet done … References […]

Where does fed pollen sub go?

I gave this presentation at the Calif State Beekeepers Convention in 2013. 2013 Where does fed pollen patty pdf

de Groot 1953

Thanks to Google for scanning this pioneering and widely-cited study. Since this study is monumentally important to understanding honey bee nutritional requirements, I’ve unsuccessfully attempted to track down any copyright holder for permission to share it. But as I understand copyright law, since this reprint does not contain any indication of this pre-1978 publication being […]

Observations on Pollen Subs

Observations on Pollen Subs Part 1 First published in ABJ July 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com I get a lot of questions about what the bees do with pollen subs, why, when, and how to feed them, or even if it’s worth the effort. Since I’ve done a goodly amount of investigation on this subject, allow […]

A Comparative Trial of the Pollen Subs 2020: Part 1

A COMPARATIVE TRIAL OF THE POLLEN SUBS 2020 Part 1 Beekeeper-Funded Research First published in ABJ July 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com California has been in a “mega-drought” for a decade. In many areas, there is not enough natural forage in late summer for building colonies back up to cluster sizes large enough to supply strong […]

A Field Trial of Probiotics

A Field Trial of Probiotics Beekeeper-Funded Research First published in ABJ May 2021 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com In recent years, we’ve learned that the honey bee gut hosts a microbiome consisting of several core groups of bacteria (Figure 1), which if disrupted, may have detrimental effects upon bee health [[1]]. Many beekeepers, in the hope […]

An Experiment to Improve Pollen Sub: Part 2

Beekeeper-Funded Research An Experiment to Improve Pollen Sub: Part 2 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ May 2020 In my last article I laid out the reason that I ran this experiment, and my two suspects for being the limiting nutrient in the artificial diet – the lack of an important sterol and/or a […]

An Experiment to Improve Pollen Sub: Part 1

Beekeeper-Funded Research An Experiment to Improve Pollen Sub: Part 1 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ April 2020 In my location, we may not see a drop of rain all summer long, so our colonies become pollen-starved. In order to prepare strong colonies for almond pollination, I used to move them to better forage […]

Light or Heavy Syrup For Drawing Foundation?

First published in: American Bee Journal, September 2016

Light or Heavy Syrup For Drawing Foundation? Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ September 2016 Since I sell a large number of nucs each spring, I need to draw thousands of deep combs of foundation every year. But due to our drought in California, this this has become difficult. So I was curious as […]

Is There A Multiplier Effect From The Feeding Of Sugar Syrup?

First published in: American Bee Journal, August 2016

Is There a Multiplier Effect from the Feeding of Sugar Syrup? Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ August 2016 I ran a few hundred hives for many years without feeding a drop of sugar syrup, due to my feeling that it was “unnatural.” In later years, as I questioned my idealistic notions, I found […]

Probiotics and Colony Productivity

First published in: American Bee Journal, February 2016

Probiotics and Colony Productivity Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in February 2016 My apologies for skipping a month in this colony microbiota series—too much bee work and too many conferences to attend. But before I return to beebread, I’d like to share the results of a related study of my own. Probiotics As […]

Reevaluating Beebread: Part 3 – For Preservation or Digestion?

First published in: American Bee Journal, December 2015

Reevaluating Beebread: Part 3 For Preservation or Digestion? Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ Dec 2015 CONTENTS Anderson’s Investigatory Approach Previous Research Identification Of The Microbes Involved (via DNA Sequencing) Bacterial Abundance During The Fermentation Process Nurse Bee Feeding Preference By Age Of Beebread The Pollen To Microbe Biomass Ratio The Degree Of Digestion […]

Reevaluating Beebread: Part 2 – The Players

First published in: American Bee Journal, November 2015

Reevaluating Beebread: Part 2 The Players Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ Nov 2015 CONTENTS Why Do Bees Go To Such Effort To Prepare Pollen In This Manner? Which Microorganisms Are Involved? Establishment Of Nest And Gut Microbiota What About Antibiotics? Next Acknowledgements References And Notes In the last two decades, the widespread application […]

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