Jan 25, 2022
Posted by: Amanda Kreklau
In winter months honey bees survive tucked up in their hives during the winter living off honey reserves. When spring arrives the bees begin to venture out of their hives to jumpstart their busy season of foraging and growing their colonies.
In pursuit of protein-rich pollen and delicious nectar to bolster their energy, the summer mission for bees is to find nectaring flowers.
When conditions are just right, honey bees relish in a season of nectar flow, also known as “honey flow.” You might assume that nectar is abundant during spring or summer in places where nectaring flowers are blossoming, right?
Not necessarily. A variety of factors can disrupt the flow of nectar—heavy rains, wind, high heat, or changes in flowering, to name a few.
Dangers of a Dearth
Known as “dearth periods,” a nectar shortage during spring and summer seasons can prove deadly to an entire bee colony.
With the rise of climate change, monoculture farming and habitat loss amplifying these threats, it’s time for humans to find innovative ways to help hungry bees—this was our motivation to create the Everbee.
Feed Local Honey Bees with Everbee
After three years of testing and 16 prototypes later, Everbee is the first solution of its kind to ensure hungry bees receive optimal nutrition regardless of weather or garden conditions. All that’s needed is a backyard. Learn about the Everbee.
Threats to Nectar Flow
Wind Interference
Sufficient wind can dry soil, resulting in less available water for plants, which needs to be allocated for life-sustaining purposes rather than making nectar.
With stronger winds, flowers bend and sway, making it more difficult for insects to land on them. What does this mean for honey bees? Mildly breezy days are fine for collecting both pollen and nectar, but nectar collection drops sharply as the wind becomes “gusty.”
Rainy Day Hazards
Honey bees dislike foraging in the rain. Raindrops can drench delicate wings and heavy rains can wash pollen from flowers and dampen the scent of nectar.
Unpredictable Flower Blooming
Even without harsh weather events, there is no guarantee that plants will provide sufficient nectar all season long. If a garden is full of spring bloomers and early-autumn flowers, the bees foraging in the height of summer may well find their options limited.
Bees in Crisis Mode
A hive that finds itself starving will have no choice but to find a hive with more resources and raid it in search of food—also called “nectar robbing.” A hive that has been invaded can be decimated quickly, especially if the scent of wax cells attracts more than just one invading swarm.
Nectar robbing is one of the ways that Varroa mite infestations spread, as bees that rob one hive may bring mites back into their own, previously mite-free hive.
How can you start helping to save the bees today?
Start a Bee-Friendly Garden
Attract bees with a pollinator garden by planting a variety of plants, choosing at least one or two that will bloom in spring, summer, and fall. If you live in an area with hot, dry summers, select drought-resistant plants to provide nectar all summer long.
Get your Everbee
Providing a nourishing food source for bees 24/7 and a precisely delivered treatment to remove deadly mites, bees will fly out of your Everbee healthy and happy.
Bees work together to solve problems and evolve. We can too.