LearnBees

Search

Home ▸ Bees ▸ Bee Guides

What Do Bees Eat?

Bumblebee eating nectar from yellow flower
At LearnBees, we suggest products we love and use. If you try them, we may earn money. Learn more.

What Do Bees Eat?

Carpenter bee eating nectar from white flower

Bees eat mostly two things:

Pollen and nectar.

Pollen is a bee’s main protein source, whereas nectar is a main carbohydrate source.(1)

That’s right.

Bees need protein and carbs just like humans do.

But that’s not all.

Pollen is also fed to baby bees (known as larvae) because it’s high in protein and rich in nutrients.

Here’s a video of a bee gathering nectar and pollen:

More importantly:

When bees buzz around from flower to flower, they gather pollen on their bodies. And when they move from each flower, they’re spreading this pollen around with them. This results in cross-pollination.

You might be asking:

Why does pollination matter?

Because pollination is essential for the survival of more than 75% of all flowering plants on Earth. In fact, pollinators like bees are responsible for 1 in 3 bites of food we eat.(2, 3)

In a nutshell:

Pollinators need us, and we need them.

Related: How to Get Rid of Carpenter Bees Without Harming Them

What Do Bees Drink?

Honeybee drinking water

Now you might be wondering…

Do bees drink water?

Yes, they do.

Bees drink water from places like damp rocks, branches, ponds, muddy puddles, and water drops found on leaves or grass.

Bees not only drink the water, but some species (like honeybees) also use it for:

  • Air conditioning – Honey bees will apply a thin layer of water over the developing bee cells on hot days to keep them cool. The water will evaporate, lowering the hive’s temperature.
  • Feeding baby bees – The diet of nurse bees for developing larvae (also known as baby bees) is water, pollen, nectar, and royal jelly. This diet might be as high as 80% water on the first day.
  • Diluting honey – Bees consume their own honey. The honey might crystallize or become thick at times. When this happens, bees use water to dilute the honey and make it edible again.

 

Related: Do Bumble Bees Sting?

Can I Feed Bees?

Honeybees flying into beehive

Absolutely!

Now that begs the question:

What is the best food for bees?

Easy. Bee-friendly flowers.

More specifically, planting flowers that bloom in the early spring and late fall are good options.

How come?

Because early spring and late fall are when flower sources are sparse. This means bees sometimes struggle to find food during these times. That said, it doesn’t hurt to also plant flowers that bloom in the spring or summer too. Either way, you’re helping your local bees.

Check out our guide on the best flowers for bees for more options.

And now you might be thinking:

Well, what about water for bees?

Good question. Providing water can go a long way in helping your local bee population.

But, there are a few things you should know first. Bees can’t swim, so they’ll drown if the water is too deep. This means they need places to perch on while they drink water.

Read our post: How to Make a Safe Bee Waterer for more information.

Related: Do Honey Bees Sting?

 

FAQs about “What Do Bees Eat?”

 

Do bees only eat nectar and pollen?

Bumblebee eating nectar from red flower

This is a frequently asked question, along with:

What food do bees need to survive? What do bees eat from flowers? What do bees eat and drink? What do bees eat in the fall? What do bees eat in the spring? What do bees eat in the summer? What do bees eat in the winter? What food can you give bees? What do you feed bees in the spring? 

The answer is:

Bees mostly eat just pollen and nectar. However, there are some variations in bee diets based on the bee’s age and species.

For example, bees may resort to ripe fruit when nectar sources are low. Also, some beekeepers feed their bees sugar water during nectar dearths to help them survive.

They also might provide pollen patties to a beehive. Pollen patties don’t actually include pollen, but they’re meant to closely resemble the protein that pollen gives to a beehive.

Also, a type of bee called a “vulture bee” has evolved to eat meat instead of relying on pollen like other bees. And finally, honeybees eat their own honey during the winter to keep them alive.

So while most bees eat exclusively pollen and nectar, there are a few exceptions.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Do bees eat fruit?

If you’ve ever wondered…

Do bees eat bananas? Do bees eat strawberries? Do bees like rotten fruit?

The answer is yes. Sometimes bees will eat fruit. Usually, the fruit is ripe instead of rotten, though.

For example, bees will turn to fruit when there is a lack of nectar (such as during a drought). They’ve been known to feast on plums, peaches, grapes, apples, figs, and pears.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

What do bees eat when there are no flowers?

Bees improvise when they can’t find flowers by eating sugar from honeydew, sugar water from hummingbird feeders, and ripe fruit.

In some unfortunate cases, honey bees will “rob” other honeybee hives and steal their honey for food. This happens during a nectar dearth, which is any time when plants slow down or cease producing nectar.

A few causes of nectar dearths include:

  • High temperatures
  • Droughts
  • Lack of flowers

 

That said, bees still need pollen from flowers to reproduce. But feeding on honeydew, sugar water, and fruit may be a way for them to survive until flowers bloom again.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Why do bees make honey if they don’t eat it?

honeybees making honey inside of honeycomb

Actually, honeybees do eat their own honey.

Honey bees produce honey as a form of food storage. They eat it over the winter season when they can’t forage because it’s cold and fewer flowers are available for food.

So you might be asking:

What do bees eat when we take their honey?

When beekeepers are harvesting honey from a beehive, they leave enough behind for the bees to eat during the winter. If the bees don’t have enough honey during the colder months, they won’t survive.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

What do beekeepers feed bees?

Beekeepers sometimes feed their bees dry sugar, sugar water, pollen patties, and/or high fructose corn syrup.

Why do they do it?

Here are some reasons:

  • During bad weather or nectar dearths, beekeepers will feed their bees because there aren’t enough flowers available.
  • If beekeepers harvest honey from a beehive, sometimes they’ll provide sugar water temporarily.
  • Beekeepers may feed a colony in the early spring to ‘get the bees going’ when the spring blooms aren’t plentiful. When the queen is fed, she becomes more eager to lay eggs. This means more workers will be available to gather nectar once flowers have bloomed

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Do bees eat human food?

People often ask, “Do bees eat bread?” and “What human food do bees eat?”

With the exception of fruit occasionally, bees don’t eat human food. Bees mostly only eat pollen and nectar from flowers.

Also, bees don’t eat human bread.

However, bees make and eat something called “bee bread,” which is about 75% pollen mixed with honey, nectar, and bee saliva. The protein is broken down by the probiotic bacteria and yeasts in their saliva.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Can I feed my bees dry sugar?

Yes, if your bees need an emergency food source in the winter or early spring, dry sugar can help.

Here’s a video explaining this:

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Should you leave sugar water out for bees?

Depending on who you ask, this answer will vary. In fact, some people have strong opinions on this.

The simple answer is that sugar water is a substitute for nectar. Some beekeepers will feed their bees sugar water when nectar sources are low.

But here’s the thing:

Bees will only turn to sugar water when they don’t have enough nectar. If flowers are blooming and nectar is readily available, they won’t even touch sugar water.

That’s a good thing.

So my opinion?

Yes, you can leave sugar water out for bees. Sugar water can be a lifesaver for weak bee colonies or bees struggling during nectar dearths.

If they need it, they’ll eat it. If they don’t, they’ll leave it alone.

Of course, planting flowers for bees is a better option, but that’s not always possible depending on the time of year and how much space you have.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

What do baby bees eat?

The lifecycle of a honeybee

Both pollen and nectar are fed to baby bees.

For honeybees, the baby bees will also eat honey. Royal jelly will be fed to the baby bees picked to become future queens. Royal jelly is a white secretion produced by young female worker bees. It’s made up of pollen and chemicals from the worker bee glands.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Do bees eat wood?

No, bees don’t eat wood.

This is a common misconception when it comes to carpenter bees. Carpenter bees drill holes into wood for their nests. However, they don’t eat the wood – only drill it out so they can lay eggs. Carpenter bees eat pollen and nectar like other bees.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Does the queen bee eat the same food as the workers?

Queen honeybee amongst worker bees
Queen honeybee amongst worker bees

It depends on the species of bee.

For example, queen honeybees eat royal jelly – this is where it gets the “royal” in its name.

Royal jelly is a milky secretion made by worker honeybees to feed baby and adult queen bees. Royal jelly is highly nutritious and allows the queen bees to grow larger than worker bees.

For other types of bees, like queen bumblebees, pollen and nectar is their main food source. Sometimes queen bumblebees will also eat the honey they store in nectar pots.

Read our guide, “Do Bumble Bees Make Honey?” for more information.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

How do Africanized honey bees eat?

Like other honeybees, Africanized worker bees gather pollen and nectar from flowers to eat.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

How do bees eat if some never leave the hive?

Honeybee inside of honeycomb

Each bee has a different role in a hive.

For example, some bees will be worker bees responsible for gathering food, others will be security bees responsible for protecting the hive, and others will be nurse bees that tend to the baby bees and queens.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Is nectar only found in flowers?

Yes, but not all plants produce nectar. For example, plants that are wind-pollinated won’t produce nectar.

Nectar is produced in glands known as nectaries found at the base of flowers.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Do bees eat honeydew?

Yes, bees sometimes eat the sugar produced by honeydew. This can tide hungry bees over until other flowers are available. However, honeydew can’t replace pollen, which is vital for baby bees.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Are bees vegetarian or vegan?

bee eating nectar and pollen from purple flower

Surprisingly enough, bees are actually omnivores, and their meat is microbes.

According to a recent article published by Scientific American:

“Scientists have known for decades that fermenting microbes are present in pollen, but no one had seemed to consider whether they were also an important food for bees. Microbial meat is a necessary part of bees’ diet.”

That said, we sometimes get asked, “What birds do bees eat?”

The answer is that bees don’t eat birds. However, some birds eat bees.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

 

More to Explore:

 

Do bees eat royal jelly?

Yes, queen honeybees eat royal jelly. In fact, the future baby queens are fed royal jelly exclusively—not pollen and honey like regular worker bees.

Without royal jelly, the larva would not have developed into a queen with the physical appearance and lifespan of a queen bee.

—> Go back to the “What Do Bees Eat?” FAQs

Read this next

Bee Guides

Bee Guides

Bee Guides

Bee Guides

Bee Guides

Bee Guides

Bee Guides

Types of Bees

Bee Anatomy

Science-Based

We take an evidence and science based approach to our content. This means we source from peer-reviewed studies, randomized controlled trials, and medical reports. Our team carefully researches the information you find in this article.

More specifically, we look for sources that:

  • are supported by data, not just based on theory
  • have been repeatedly tested and proven effective
  • can be reproduced in other settings
  • come from reliable and trusted sources

You’ll find these evidence-based sources highlighted by parentheses.(1, 2, 3)

Our content is also written from the knowledge of experts, including beekeepers and bee experts. This allows us to educate you on bees so you can help them flourish in your community. In doing so, we strive to be honest, transparent, and unbiased in every piece of content we produce.