Spring and bad weather: Food in box?

I was just browsing Mr Bush’s website - very interesting stuff, encouraged me to go foundationless despite all the folks telling me it won’t work… Anyway, I just stumbled across early spring description and how the weather may stop the bees from collecting pollen. So I thougt, would it help to put a branch of blooming pussy willow or so into the hive, maybe in a shallow box on top of the brood box? Or would they ignore it? Same for bad autumn weeks…

Hi Angela, I wouldn’t bother with that, I found that bees gather ample pollen during the good weather, sometimes too much that they clog up whole frames with it.

Also they visit lots of flowers to gather 2 baskets of pollen. WAY more than you could ever fit into your hive.

Keep an open mind on the subject of foundation vs foundationless. I tried foundationless & after 2 seasons decided for the most part, it wasn’t for me. I do foundationless if the occasion suits me, like in my observation hive for example or on a freshly caught swarm.

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I have read somewhere that a single bee will visit up to 7000 flowers in a day’s travel so I wouldn’t bother. If not sugar feeding, you can also get pollen patties or the like on the net, that would be more effective.