That’s awesome! And the paper is open access :)
Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold
Submitted 1 month ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science@mander.xyz
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250822073807.htm
Comments
Sal@mander.xyz 1 month ago
dumnezero@piefed.social 1 month ago
Beekeepers provide colonies with pollen substitutes, but these feeds do not sustain brood production because they lack essential sterols found in pollen.
So they were being starved by the bee farmers. Got it.
huf@hexbear.net 1 month ago
you mean bees need more than sugarwater to live? huh.
Paragone@mander.xyz 1 week ago
Farmers provide their animals, bees included, with what feed they can buy.
The fact that animal-feed is chemically-deficient isn’t the fault of the farmers, it is the fault of shoddy standards in animal-feed being more profitable than quality/integrity’s standards,
& nobody legislated proper-nutrition-requirements for things like animal-food, baby-food, etc.
For-profit operations ONLY increase their costs when that increases profits, XOR when they’re coerced into producing correct product/service.
Basic narcissism-centered economics, that.
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happybadger@hexbear.net 1 month ago
It’s a shame that it’s honeybee research. In Colorado one of our major pollinator ecology issues is that honeybees aren’t native and our 842 species of native bees have to compete with them during the three snow-free months. The apiaries doing better negatively impacts the broader goals of my pollinator gardens. Those native species are the rapidly dwindling ones we can’t replace commercially.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Whilst these initial results are promising, further large-scale field trials are needed to assess long-term impacts on colony health and pollination efficacy. Potentially, the supplement could be available to farmers within two years.
This new technology could also be used to develop dietary supplements for other pollinators or farmed insects, opening new avenues for sustainable agriculture.
ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 1 month ago
TL;DR: Bees need balanced nutrition and we figured out how to make healthy bee food.
three_trains_in_a_trenchcoat@piefed.social 1 month ago
okay, next question: why aren't they getting those sterols?
follow up: are wild, native bees also affected, or is it just the European honeybees?
Scrawny@reddthat.com 1 month ago
A healthy hive would get proper nutrients. Usually you only need to feed a hive pollen when it is a weaker hive that doesn’t have the population needed to collect pollen. This boosts brood production and the hive can recover faster.
Another issue is commercial beekeeping. Hundreds of hives could be working a few square miles while in nature it would be just a few. Not enough resources for that many hives so weaker hives struggle. This is a human solution for a human problem.