Understanding Foraging Patterns and How to Support Them

Honey bee foraging follows clear patterns. Foragers fly only in suitable weather, travel farther when food near the hive is scarce, recruit nestmates to good patches with the waggle dance, and tend to stick with one kind of flower on a trip. Those patterns shift through the year as spring flows give way to summer dearths and autumn blooms.

Once you understand these patterns, it becomes much easier to support them, whether you keep bees or simply garden for them. This guide explains how honey bees forage and what beekeepers and gardeners can do to help.

Key Takeaways

• Honey bees forage in dry weather above roughly 61°F (16°C), and older workers do the foraging.
• Foraging distance changes with the season. In one large UK study, the average distance in summer was more than four times the spring average.
• The waggle dance tells recruits the direction and distance of a food source, and flower scent helps them find it.
• Individual foragers tend to visit one flower type per trip (flower constancy), so plants grown in clumps are more useful than scattered singles.
• You can support foraging with a succession of bloom, a nearby water source, careful pesticide use, and feeding during a dearth.

Table of Contents

• Who Forages, and When
• How Far Honey Bees Fly to Forage
• The Waggle Dance: How Foragers Recruit Nestmates
• Flower Constancy
• Seasonal Patterns and Nectar Dearths
• How to Support Honey Bee Foraging
• Conclusion
• FAQ

Who Forages, and When

A worker honey bee spends the first part of her adult life inside the hive, cleaning cells, feeding brood, building comb and processing nectar. Only in the later part of her life does she become a forager, collecting nectar, pollen, water and plant resins. Foraging is the most dangerous job in the colony, so it falls to the oldest workers.

Weather sets hard limits. Penn State Extension notes that bees forage “when outside temperatures are above 16°C/61°F and it is not raining” (Penn State Extension). Wind and heavy cloud also reduce flight. Within a day, foragers also learn when particular flowers offer the most nectar or pollen and time their visits to match, which is why the same flower patch can be busy in the morning and quiet in the afternoon.

How Far Honey Bees Fly to Forage

Honey bees can fly several kilometers from the hive, but how far they actually go depends on what is blooming nearby. A study by Couvillon, Schürch and Ratnieks decoded 5,097 waggle dances from colonies in Sussex, England, over two years. The average foraging distance was 493 m in spring, 2,156 m in summer and 1,275 m in autumn, and the authors concluded that summer was the most challenging season for the bees (PLOS ONE, 2014).

US landscapes differ from southern England, so the exact numbers will not transfer. The general lesson does: longer foraging flights are a sign that good forage near the hive is scarce, and each extra kilometer costs the colony energy and forager lifespan. For more on range, see How Far Bees Travel to Forage: Bee Foraging Distances.

The Waggle Dance: How Foragers Recruit Nestmates

A successful forager can recruit others to her food source by dancing on the comb. According to NC State Extension, bees use a round dance for food sources “less than 50 meters away,” which signals that food is close but gives no direction, and a waggle dance for sources “more than 150 meters away,” which “communicates both distance and direction” (NC State Extension).

• Distance is coded by the length of the waggle run. NC State gives the example that a waggle run lasting 2.5 seconds recruits for a food source about 2,625 meters away.
• Direction is coded by the angle of the waggle run relative to vertical on the comb, which matches the angle between the food source and the sun outside.
• Scent finishes the job. Recruits pick up the odor of the flowers from the dancer and use it to home in once they reach the area.

Because dancers advertise the most rewarding patches, a colony can shift its foraging force quickly when a new crop comes into bloom.

Flower Constancy

On a given trip, an individual forager usually visits only one kind of flower, even when other flowers are available. This habit, called flower constancy, makes the forager more efficient because she only has to learn one flower shape and reward pattern at a time, and it makes her a better pollinator because she carries pollen between flowers of the same species. For more detail, see How Bees Find and Choose Nectar Sources.

For gardeners, flower constancy means that a large drift of one plant is more useful to honey bees than a single plant of many different species.

Seasonal Patterns and Nectar Dearths

In much of the United States, the foraging year follows a broad pattern: early spring pollen from trees such as maples and willows, a main nectar flow in late spring or early summer, a summer dearth when little is blooming, and a second, smaller flow in late summer or autumn from plants such as goldenrod and asters. The timing and strength of each phase vary a lot by region and by year.

Dearths change colony behavior. Penn State Extension notes that honey bees “become more defensive of their colony’s resources” during a dearth, and robbing becomes more likely. Signs that your bees are in a dearth include foragers investigating other hives, bees trying to get into cracks and feeders, falling hive weight, and a queen who has slowed her laying.

How to Support Honey Bee Foraging

Plant for a succession of bloom

The most useful thing gardeners and landowners can do is fill the gaps in the local bloom calendar, especially the summer dearth. Plant several species so that something is flowering from early spring to late autumn, favor native plants suited to your region, and plant each species in clumps rather than as single specimens. Bee-Friendly Plants for Your Garden: A Native-First Guide has region-appropriate options.

Provide water

Colonies use water to cool the hive and to dilute stored honey for feeding brood. A shallow, reliable source near the apiary, with stones, twigs or floating material for bees to land on, keeps foragers from flying to neighbors’ pools or pet bowls. See Why Bees Need a Reliable Water Source.

Reduce pesticide exposure

University of California IPM recommends that people “avoid applying any pesticides to plants that are flowering, particularly insecticides and miticides,” and avoid drift onto nearby blooming weeds. If a spray is necessary, it suggests applying “between sunset and midnight when bees are not active,” reading the label carefully, and avoiding products labeled toxic or highly toxic to bees. It also notes that residual toxicity to bees can last from hours to a week or more depending on the product (UC IPM). Mowing flowering weeds under fruit trees before spraying also keeps foragers out of the treated area.

Feed during a dearth

If colonies are light during a long dearth, beekeepers can feed sugar syrup inside the hive and, when pollen is scarce and brood rearing matters, a pollen substitute. Open feeding and spilled syrup can trigger robbing, so use feeders inside the hive and keep entrances reduced while you feed.

Conclusion

Honey bee foraging patterns are driven by weather, distance, communication between foragers, and the changing bloom calendar. Beekeepers who understand them can tell when their colonies are short of food, and gardeners can make the biggest difference by filling gaps in the bloom calendar, providing water, and keeping pesticides off flowers. Small changes close to the hive shorten foraging flights and help colonies stay strong through the whole season.