Innovative Supplement Offers New Hope for Malnourished Beehives

Beekeepers across various regions are facing growing challenges as their honeybee colonies struggle to gather enough pollen to stay healthy. To help combat this issue, researchers have developed a new dietary supplement being likened to “a PowerBar for bees.”

The Pollen Shortage Problem

Under normal conditions, honeybees in managed hives rely on pollen collected from nearby flowering plants. But due to climate shifts and the decline of natural, flower-rich habitats, finding sufficient and diverse pollen sources has become increasingly difficult.

Adding to the problem, bees require a variety of pollen types to fulfill their full nutritional requirements. While commercial bee feeds do exist, researchers at Washington State University (WSU) claim these options still fall short nutritionally.

That’s where the new formula steps in.

The supplement is the result of a decade-long collaboration between WSU and Belgian biotech firm APIX Biosciences. It combines a proprietary mix of ingredients with six key sterols – essential plant-based nutrients bees usually get from pollen. One of these, isofucosterol, plays a particularly vital role in bee development.

Crucially, the supplement mimics the natural sterol ratios found in wild habitats where bees typically forage. It’s made into soft patties that can be placed directly into hives, allowing bees to consume them easily.

To test its effectiveness, researchers conducted a field study in which smaller hives were fed exclusively on the new supplement over an entire honey season. These hives were enclosed in tents to prevent access to outside pollen. In comparison, other hives received either standard commercial feed or had access to low-nutrition pollen sources like sunflower and blueberry.

Striking Results in Hive Health

The results were striking: colonies fed the new supplement showed consistent strength, completing nine brood cycles and replacing their entire worker populations twice within just 15 weeks. In contrast, the other groups experienced decreased larval development, signs of paralysis in adult bees, and in some cases, total hive collapse.

“Before this, honeybees were the only form of livestock we couldn’t sustain with artificial feed,” said Dr. Patrick Pilkington, CEO of APIX. “Our findings demonstrate that colonies under nutritional stress can experience a significant health boost when fed our pollen-replacement formula, even outperforming current industry standards. This has the potential to transform hive management practices.”

The team expects the supplement to be available for commercial use by mid-next year. The full study was recently published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Meanwhile, the US Agricultural Research Service is also exploring a complementary “bee chow” enriched with microalgae.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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