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| Pollen stored in the comb. It can be gone within three days when foraging is difficult because of weather |
The upcoming week is going to be cold and rainy. The bees will not be able to get any pollen from foraging until next Saturday at the earliest. A colony can deplete pollen stores in as little as three days. When there is no pollen in the hive, brood cannot be fed and any uncapped brood will die.
If you looked into your hive that has had no pollen it would seem queenless with no brood.
This can set back any colony that a beekeeper was planning on dividing. The loss of brood will have a consequence of lower bee numbers when the nectar flow starts and less honey in the hive.
During the spring, pollen patties should be on the hive into early June. This is cheap insurance to have a healthy productive colony.