I am increasingly convinced that we have been experiencing a slow but steady 
decrease in the quality of pollen available to our bees over recent decades.

I see fewer colours than in the past, and I think it would be very useful to 
analyze samples of typical pollen found in hives going into winter for amino 
acid balance and overall protein content.  I'll bet the results would be 
surprising.

At the same time as the pollen sources have become fewer, the nutritional 
requirements of our bees have increased due to predation from two exotic 
mites, and also the burdens imposed by pesticides which subtly affect nerves 
and metabolism.

As the season ended, I became increasingly impressed by the performance of 
my splits which consumed Global's 15% pollen patties at rate of about a 
pound a week all summer and went from walk-away splits (twice since May) and 
are now as high as six boxes.

The four hives I weighed put on around 90 pounds in the last month of 
summer.  I had great wintering last year, and wonder how this winter's 
success will be.  I have varroa at 5% and 2%, 2% and 2% levels in the hives 
I checked so far, and figure some oxalic syrup may be in order.

I'm wondering how much feeding protein compensates for other factors like 
mite predation.

I'm also wondering if the reason that protein feeding has seemed to be 
beneficial against nosema according to some reports could be that the 
digestion of the protein supplements (especially for bees with 
nosema-damaged guts) is easier than the digestion of pollen, which is known 
to have a tough covering.

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