# Is it true that bees only bring in Pollen when they have a queen?



## kayakbiker (Sep 3, 2014)

I have a hive that swarmed twice. I have about 1000 bees left in the original hive, no brood or eggs but have a box of hatched brood comb and a box of honey. I also thought I spotted the queen. Bees few bees left are still bringing in pollen. In another forum I was asking a question regarding this hive and some wrote that, "If bees are bringing in pollen then you have a queen." Is this true in most cases or no?


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

I say that bees bring in pollen if they have a laying queen OR if they have brood to feed. They slow down or stop when no brood to feed or if the queen is a just emerged virgin and no brood to feed. As the virgin mates, they start bringing in pollen again. Is how it seems to me with my hives here.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Hive that don't have queens are really good at collecting pollen and nectar too. I have had queenless colonies that were really productive. I figure that the adult bees don't have anything to do but forage and if there is something to forage for they really get to it.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

I have observed residual bees from a queenless shake out - no queen, no brood, no frames or comb - bringing in pollen.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

A direct answer is: No, it is not true.

More specifically: Queen, no queen, brood, no brood, usually makes little difference in how a hive forages. If forage is available, some hives are good at utilizing it, some are not. Their queen or brood status doesn't always affect that, though, with some bees, it can.


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## stan.vick (Dec 19, 2010)

I think the reason you have answers that are different may be due to factors such as location, ( i.e. what's available ) maybe laying workers, and mostly the genetics of the bees.
I will have a queenless colony that is bringing in some pollen with an active population, but most likely they are bringing in very little of anything, just kind of hanging out and lazy.
I can walk through the apiary and usually spot the colony that is queenless by the amount of activity and the number of bees bringing in pollen " related to how much the rest are bringing in " does not always work but does so enough that I use the pollen observation as a tool. But we all know when it comes to bees nothing is absolute, and none of us are "experts"


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

i would answer 'sometimes'.

i have had two or three occasions that little or no pollen coming in at the entrance (when there was a lot of pollen coming into other hives) prompted an inspection that lead to the finding of queenlessness.

i have also seen queenless/broodless colonies bringing in pollen.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Is it true that bees only bring in Pollen when they have a queen?

False. I've seen queenless bees hauling pollen like crazy and plugging up the entire brood nest with it.


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## homesteader824 (Jun 9, 2012)

I've seen bees here bringing in pollen as late as December. I'm sure there was no brood then. Also, some beekeepers make their hives queenless to increase honey production. Without brood to care for, nurse bees are freed up to forage. So it seems that if there is pollen or nectar available, the bees will be hauling it in.


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## EastSideBuzz (Apr 12, 2009)

Sometimes, You never know, Yes, No, It depends............ There is no wrong answer.


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## CajunBee (May 15, 2013)

Clear as mud ! :lpf:


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

Not true, at all. Bees will bring in nectar and pollen (it's what they do if nectar and pollen is available) regardless if there's a queen or not.
When someone was making my first nuc for me, she had it in her yard and said the bees were bringing in pollen and "looked good". Moving day came, opened the hive to find about 400 bees, nothing but some pollen and nectar. 
Remember that bees are bees, they will behave like bees.


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