Hi all
It used to be recommended that colonies going into winter should have large quantities of stored pollen. Recent research shows that stored pollen may be unfit as food for bees

> long-term pollen stores have been strongly associated with poor consumption, reduced growth performance, and increased mortality, especially if the cells are not well maintained. Maes and coworkers (2016) recently found that workers reared on older (21d) stored pollen experienced reduced adult growth, increased mortality, and development of a dysbiotic gut microbiome compared to workers reared on more recently (14d) stored pollen [47]. Previous authors have noted that bees may not perform well on poorly-maintained stored pollen that has been stored for months [10,37]. 

> The effects of consuming degraded pollen may bee particularly deleterious during extended periods of high colony stress, such as overwintering [48]. Under marginal conditions, colony food preservation may erode as hygienic behavior declines, environmental control of the colony periphery is reduced, and water and microbes infiltrate stored pollen. Under such an absence of preservation, the chemical composition of stored pollen may change and render the pollen unsuitable for consumption. Eventually, bees may respond to suboptimal stored pollen by entombing the degraded food cell with propolis [49].

> These findings are inconsistent with the hypothesis promoting a period of microbially-mediated, "beebread maturation" that results in greater palatability or nutritive value for aged pollen stores.

OPEN ACCESS Citation: Carroll MJ, Brown N, Goodall C, Downs AM, Sheenan TH, Anderson KE (2017) Honey bees preferentially consume freshly-stored pollen. PLoS ONE 12(4): e0175933. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0175933

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