Europe PMC · 2026-07-08
A large commercial study found that fall feeding programs for honey bee colonies — whether natural pollen or manufactured supplements — didn't consistently outperform leaving colonies unfed. Two commercially available supplements matched natural pollen in colony size and profitability, but unfed colonies did just as well in a second trial, suggesting fall feeding may often be unnecessary.
Unfed colonies performed as well as pollen-fed and supplement-fed colonies in trial 2, suggesting fall feeding is not always necessary.
Two commercial supplements, Global 4% and AP23, consistently matched natural pollen in colony size and likelihood of grading adequately for almond pollination.
Study evaluated approximately 700 colonies across 2 years and 2 North Dakota apiaries, measuring colony size at 4 time points from pre-feed through post-almond pollination.