What do bees eat?

Bees feed on pollen, honey and a sugary liquid called nectar. All larvae eat royal jelly, a super-nutritional substance that is produced by the hypopharyngeal gland of mature worker bees, and bee bread, which is a honey and pollen mix.

A queen larvae is fed large amounts of royal jelly for three days to trigger the development of its ovaries. A large colony of 75,000 bees can consume 100 pounds of honey during the winter. Bees work hard to produce extra honey during the spring and summer months to ensure that they have enough to sustain them through the winter.