Good Nutrition, Good Bees with David Aston (S4, E15)

This week we talk with researcher and author, David Aston about his book, Good Nutrition, Good Bees. It’s exciting to see how much information on honey bee nutrition is becoming available. This is happening as both new research and looking at existing research in a new light.

David Aston, and his coauthor and wife Sally Bucknall, have focused on presenting much existing information, along with some of their newer work in a unique format.

Imagine, if you will, all of the things a bee does during his or her life. Starting with being a larva, pupa, then adult. Each of these stages requires a different diet, either in content, amount or timing. What happens if there isn’t enough food, or the quality is below what’s needed, or suddenly there isn’t any at all.

Then imagine the series of tasks an adult bee undertakes. Feeding larvae, raising queens, flying and foraging, making beeswax, dancing, laying eggs, mating, producing venom, and all of the rest of the tasks in their busy lives. Does the diet of a worker bee need to change as she matures? Once a queen starts laying eggs, how much food does she need to produce 1000, 1500 eggs a day? Does a bee know where to find the food needed to produce venom?

What plants are fatty acids, lipids, vitamins, inorganic elements, sterols and all the rest found that are needed to do all the things bees do? And if you are feeding you bees, what do you feed them? And how much, and when?

David Aston tackles all of these questions in his podcast and in his book. It is simply a wealth of information, so you can make sure your bees have enough good food, all of the time, for every bee in the bunch.

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Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

• Good Nutrition Good Bees - https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/products/good-nutrition-good-bees-aston-and-bucknall/
• Tom Theobald's "Notes from the Beeyard" podcast - https://notesfromthebeeyard.buzz 
• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

HiveAlive is the #1 feed supplement for honeybees worldwide. HiveAlive has been proven to give more bees, more honey, improved overwinter survival and improved intestinal wellbeing. It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and lemongrass. Whilst it is unusual for bees to be fed seaweed, the practice of adding seaweed to other animal feed is long established. Seaweeds are fed to animals for multiple benefits such as productivity, general health, gut health, immune function and nutrition. As well as providing multiple benefits for the bees, HiveAlive is super easy to use and also prevents syrup from fermenting. Simply add just 2 tsp of our concentrated formula per gallon of syrup.   Due to demand from beekeepers, we have also created HiveAlive Fondant Patty. This gives all the benefits of HiveAlive in a ready to feed sugar fondant with added vitamins & amino acids. The patties are individually sealed meaning they won't dry out and are thin to allow easy placement close to the cluster. These patties are ideal for feeding colonies over winter and for emergency feeding of colonies.   Ask for HiveAlive and our new HiveAlive Fondant Patty at your local beekeeping store or find it online at https://usa.hivealivebees.com/. Listeners of the podcast can claim a special discount online using the code "BTP" at the checkout. 

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected]

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Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC