What is Bee Bread?

What is Bee Bread?
Honey bees may be known for their honey which comes from the nectar of flowers, but that isn’t the only food they store in their hives. Bees also create a partially-fermented food called bee bread. While honey provides bees with plenty of carbohydrates for energy, bee bread rounds out their diet by serving as their main source of protein.
Honey bees may be known for their honey which comes from the nectar of flowers, but that isn’t the only food they store in their hives. Bees also create a partially-fermented food called bee bread. While honey provides bees with plenty of carbohydrates for energy, bee bread rounds out their diet by serving as their main source of protein.

Pollen is the primary ingredient in bee bread, which is rich in protein but difficult to digest in its raw form. Bees collect pollen from flowers when foraging and store it in special “baskets” on their hind legs. Honey bees fill these baskets grain by grain until they have dense balls of pollen stuck to their legs. Believe it or not, a fully-loaded bee can carry up to a third of its body weight in pollen.

Gathering pollen for bee bread is such a labor-intensive process that it takes an enormous toll on the forager bees. They typically die just a few weeks after the foraging season begins in the spring. But, thanks to their efforts, they’re able to sustain a new generation of bees and keep their colonies buzzing into the future.
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