The Buzz About Bee Pollen

So what’s all the buzz about? 

This week it’s Bee Pollen. That crunchy, slightly sweet tasting, fantastic source of vitamins and energy, that honey bees collect while visiting flowers.

Where do honey bees get Bee Pollen?

While a foraging bee moves around a flower collecting nectar to make that sweet product called honey, that we all love, the stamen in the flower releases a fine dust called pollen. Anyone who suffers from hay fever knows all about pollen!

On closer inspection, a honey bee is quite fuzzy. This released pollen gets caught in the hairs on her body. She is conveniently equipped with combs on her legs to ‘brush’ her hair. She places the pollen in her mouth, adds a little bit of nectar to create a sticky ball, and packs it onto her back legs to be transported back to the hive.

What do bees use pollen for?

In the hive, she will deposit the pollen into a cell close to the brood. The nurse bees use the pollen to feed the worker bee and drone larva. A few worker bees also eat pollen. These bees turn the pollen into precious Royal Jelly to feed the queen.

How is Bee Pollen collected?

When a beekeeper wants to collect pollen, a pollen collector will be attached to the front of the hive. The foraging bees have to wiggle through the narrow holes of a pollen collector. While doing this, the pollen is scraped off her back legs and falls

into a collection drawer to be removed later by the beekeeper. Not all pollen collected is used for human consumption. It can also be stored and fed back to the bees in the spring before flowers have started to bloom, or in the winter (weather permitting) to boost pollen stores in hive.

Why is Bee Pollen different colors?

Every flower produces its own color of pollen. Pollen colors can range from white, yellow, orange, brown and grey to shades of red and blue!

Why use Bee Pollen?

Bee Pollen has been described as Mother Nature’s Multi-Vitamin. Bee Pollen is packed full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and coenzymes that are so beneficial to the human body. (For a complete listing visit www.beepollenbuzz.com)

I take a teaspoon every morning for the almost instant energy it provides. Some people like it with their lunch to offset any thoughts of an afternoon nap! It’s not recommended for evening consumption … unless you’re a shift-worker!

Bee Pollen, just one of the many benefits honey bees bring to our lives!