[Pollinator] Birdfeed for honeybees? Interesting N. NJ observation

[Tim Miklasiewicz]

Hi Mr. Roswell,

     Thank you for sharing the interesting observation.

     I have seen honey bees collect "dust" from grain in bird feeders 
several times, when winter temperatures have been warm enough to permit 
foraging, but there was no natural pollen available nearby.   Others 
report that, in the absence of real pollen, foraging workers will 
collect other substances (e.g. concrete dust, mold spores) that have 
share some of its characteristics.  Grain dust has fine texture and some 
protein content.  Bees are believed to gain little or no nutritional 
value from such collections.  They should stop as soon as nearby plants 
(especially early blooming maples and willows) start producing pollen.  
When I've put out dry pollen substitute (amended soybean flour) in a 
sheltered warm place, workers have switched from visiting bird feeders 
to collecting that.

Tim Miklasiewicz

_______________________________________________________

Tim Miklasiewicz, Ph.D.       tmiklasiewicz at frontier.com
Plain City, Ohio, U.S.A.       (614) 733-0320
_______________________________________________________




On 3/24/2015 3:16 PM, Michael Roswell wrote:
> After an outreach talk about native bees on 14 March, a master 
> gardener from northern NJ posed this query:
>
> A reminder of my question...Why is my bird feeder covered in European 
> honey bees?   My neighbor has two hives and has put out lots of 
> protein packs for them but they are all over both of our bird feeders.
> Feed is mostly ground corn, other grains such as millet, sunflower 
> seed, and Veg oil.  What are they eating??
> Yes, I am further north and still lots of snow.  Very little sign of 
> flowers.
>
> Please pass along any ideas! This struck me as an interesting 
> observation.
>
> Michael Roswell
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