Seeing lot's of ads re: pollen, and I never even asked if I should be feeding any pollen to my one hive? Should I just buy a pound of the stuff and make a patty and plop it in there???
You are in my previous predicament....not knowing. I think it it's relative to what you want from your hives plus what shape your hives are currently in. I started feeding a couple of my weaker hives in hopes of building up some bees.
There a billions of bees flying in and out today...the 3rd sunny day in a row with temps in the upper 50's..I can see then bringing pollen in...hhhhmmmm,what t
o do?
if they are bringing in a lot of pollen i'd wait until i can inspect the frames and check their pollen stores. you may plug your queen with too much pollen!
I think the general consensus is only to feed pollen if the bees aren't bringing in any on their own...to give them an early brood rearing boost before pollen is available by foraging.
Nutrition is very important for bees these days with all the new viruses and pathogens being unveiled in the studies for ccd-pollen from a drought year can be lacking in nutrition-as compared to pollen from a good year -I prefer to give them every chance at being strong to fight any sickness that they may be exposed to-I buy pre-made patties for convenes sake -and the bees know what is good for them also because they always eat them-RDY-B
What type do you feed Rdy?
I get them from mannlake -i dont think the ones i get are in the catolog but i get them with 15% pollen -you should be able to get them in a ten pack -if you cant get 15% buy the 4% -RDY-B
Hey, they'll find pollen if it's out there, and it almost always is. It's mid-January and I notice that there's Catkins on the tukwilas (Hazelhuts or Filberts) already.
I never fed pollen to my bees. They always seem to be bringing pollen in when the weather warms up a bit. I guess perhaps it can not hurt to feed them. Just not sure if necessary.
Annette
Talk to cindi she is having great success with feeding sub-dont forget the big picture 8-) when you feed sub you will have plenty bees for the flow -not bees building up on the flow -like many people are indicating it may come early this year :-D RDY-B
I never heard this before and I will do more research on the subject. Thank you
Annette
your manzanita flow should be in about one more brood cycle from now isnt it?-RDY-B
Rudy in the last Bee Culture Mag the 15% pollen pattys were on the back page. I am going to pick it up in a few weeks. We have a store in Bakersfield which is an hr south of me. I have to pick up a turkey for a friend down there so I am making it a win win for me and go by Mann Lake. I bought some Feed Bee yesterday from Dadant. I bought about 300 in more bee supplies. All togather I have bought about 1000.00 in bee supplies since Sept. And still have about $500 more to get. and all of this is for 2 hives plus a few extra med and shallow supers. And varroa screened bottom boards.
Angi
Over the last warm spell here they were brining in pollen. For the life of me I cant figure out where they were getting it from but they were packing it in. It is an odd sight in January to see them bringing it in when everything around is or appears to be dead as a hammer.
Sharon. There are enormous amounts of posts on the pollen patty feeding. You need to look at them, take a few minutes to do this.
Spring build-up is the most important part of the year for the bees. This is when they have come out of the dormant state, whether it has been a couple of weeks or a couple of months. This is when they are brooding, big time. If you see the bees bringing in pollen (and also coming home what appears to be empty handed, that would be more than likely water), then they are brooding big time. The bees require pollen for muscle and buildup of the young bees bodies in so many ways. They mix pollen with honey, enzymes and water to feed the larvae. It is an important time of year for the bees.
Your bees may have pollen reserves and are collecting it, but that does not certainly mean that they have enough pollen stores. As Rdy-B said, it all depends on the area too.
I would strongly encourage you (and Annette too) to give the colonies some pollen patty, or any form of pollen substitute like the pollen patty to your bees. Michael also spoke of putting the pollen mash on the bottomboard too.
If the bees need that extra pollen to build up for spring and the heavy work that they are going to be performing, then the pollen is there for their use. If they don't require it, that is good, they have the option of not using the pollen patty or.
The more protein that the bees can get, the stronger the nurse bees will be, "fat bees, skinny bees", (there was a great book written with that title). (I have downloaded it to my desktop to read, one day, I am a great procrastinator).
In our area, the commercial beekeepers begin to feed pollen patties around the beginning of February, that is really soon. I will be too. They need to get their bees built up for the first pollination, blueberry. Yes, there is many buds forming on trees such as the hazelnuts, and so on, there is pollen there, but right now, the bees cannot yet fly to get any of this early pollen, they need all the help they can get sometimes. And who can say exactly how much pollen has been stored within the colony? We can only hope that there has been lots. Personally, I can't check, it is too cold, even when that sun shines. And some will say, let bees be bees, but I have reservations about that train of thought. Sometimes we need to help out the bees, to their advantage, and to the lesser, to ours.
So, advice here, read a little bit about the benefit of feeding extra pollen to the bees. It is worth the read. But you need to read these important things, and to understand, listening and learning, I know you both love to do that. That is our role as the caregiver of the bees. It will bring joy to your souls.
Strong spring building up requires lots and lots of pollen, maybe they have enough and are bringing lots in, but then, maybe they don't, do you want to take that chance? Have the most beautiful and wonderful day. Cindi
Excellent information...thanks! :-D
My experience has been they will stop eating the patty when they have sufficient natural sources. I start to feed patties when the maple just begins to leaf out and bud. It get them started earlier and a bigger population really help w/ the flow.
Quote from: rdy-b on January 17, 2008, 12:36:54 AM
your manzanita flow should be in about one more brood cycle from now isnt it?-RDY-B
I was just thinking about that Manzanita Flow. The trees are directly in back of the bee hives, in fact a whole 20 acres of them, or more. I don't remember though when they bloom. (Just looked on the internet, and it seems they bloom first week of March around here, but of course, could be earlier) Guess I will just take a walk around the woods in back of the hives.
But I am still looking into this pollen pattie issue.
Annette
If they don't have any pollen and the weather is warm, feeding pollen can make a lot of difference. If there is pollen available, they usually ignore the pollen you try to feed them.
Quote from: Angi_H on January 17, 2008, 03:37:03 AM
Rudy in the last Bee Culture Mag the 15% pollen pattys were on the back page. I am going to pick it up in a few weeks. We have a store in Bakersfield which is an hr south of me. I have to pick up a turkey for a friend down there so I am making it a win win for me and go by Mann Lake. I bought some Feed Bee yesterday from Dadant. I bought about 300 in more bee supplies. All togather I have bought about 1000.00 in bee supplies since Sept. And still have about $500 more to get. and all of this is for 2 hives plus a few extra med and shallow supers. And varroa screened bottom boards.
Angi
:? :? :? :-D
Personally, I don't get the reluctance to feed pollen patties. If the bees have enough pollen they won't use the pollen patty, so...remove the patty if it is not being used, it won't harm anything having it remain in the hive as a safeguard. If there is bad weather and pollen outside that they could harvest if they could fly, then that could be terrible. No pollen coming in. No brood being raised (unless there are overwintered pollen reserves). Bee must have adequate proteins (pollen) to grow, develop the hypopharyngeal glands that produce the royal jelly that is mixed with honey and pollen and enzymes to feed the larvae. If the protein is not there, the bees cannot feed the larvae. Of course they have some reserve amounts in their bodies, but this will diminish. They can't feed the young, no spring building up.
Giving pollen patties is an assurance that the bees have adequate amount of pollen for brood rearing, in the event they do not have or can get enough on their own. It is a dice subject, I guess, to feed or not to feed. But I would not take any chances on having bad spring build up because I thought they had enough pollen. But then that is a personal choice, and I am strong to voice certain of my own opinions. That is known. Have a great day, full of thoughts and so many lessons yet to learn, this is me, on a quest for knowledge. Cindi
yep thats the way of it :lol:many levals to this thing we love called beekeeping :-D you are galactic ;) RDY-B
Quoteremove the patty if it is not being used, it won't harm anything having it remain in the hive as a safeguard.
Unless your in an area that has SHB, then the patties can be an invitation to a picnic.
I am so thankful we do not have SHB...
Quote from: Brian D. Bray on January 21, 2008, 08:49:21 PM
Quoteremove the patty if it is not being used, it won't harm anything having it remain in the hive as a safeguard.
Unless your in an area that has SHB, then the patties can be an invitation to a picnic.
Brian, ooooh, ya, right, now that is true, so I have heard elsewhere on this forum. We don't have the SHB, and guess I overlooked that aspect of the pollen patty. That is good that you pointed this out, yea!!! Have an awesome day. Cindi
>Michael also spoke of putting the pollen mash on the bottomboard too.
Actually that was in an empty hive for open feeding. If you do that in a hive they will haul it out for trash.
>Personally, I don't get the reluctance to feed pollen patties.
The only time they would do much good is also a time when I'm afraid they might start rearing too much brood and get caught in a hard freeze. After that they have pollen. Half of the pollen patties usually get wasted as they spoil, or just don't get eaten at all. I've tried feeding and not feeding them and some years, when it's warm enough but there's no pollen, it's helpful, and other years it makes no difference.