I am going to fee some dry pollen substitute to a weak hive I am trying to get built up for winter. Not seeing any of my hives bringing in much pollen at all. What is the best way to feed this dry substitute?
I have an old nuc that I thought about putting 20 feet or so from the hive and putting the substitute in that. Let them go in and out of it. Does anyone see an issue with that? I have never had to feed pollen before.
The nurse bees that don't leave the hive need that protein too.
In the summer we may put it on the top super where the field bees stay at night and in when it's time to fatten them up for winter place it on the brood frames.
I feed pollen dry in an empty hive. I put down a solid bottom, followed by a screened bottom, followed by a piece of window screen (this is to keep the pollen from molding while not letting it all fall through) followed by a box and a cover.
I normally don't feed pollen, as that's the one thing we have plenty of around here (in the open countryside) - right throughout the season. Nectar, however, is a much different story - a real 'feast and famine' with that: OSR (canola) in abundance, and afterwards more-or-less nothing by comparison.
However, at the moment I'm raising some very late queens and have piled on the grub to maximise their chances. So - dry pollen substitute was added generously into a slurry of commerically-made fondant and 2:1 syrup until the spoon started to bend. This was then placed in small jam-jars with plastic film taped in place, instead of their tops. With two slits cut into the plastic film these jars were then placed over holes in the crown boards (inner covers) as if they were inverted jar feeders, and their contents have since been wolfed down - they clearly love that stuff, even if it isn't 'the real thing'. And the queen cells have been growing very nicely ...
LJ
The only time I feed pollen is in a failed fall flow.