pollin patties

[LLR]

How do you make pollin patties? How thick? How big around? How do you dyr them?
LLR

[Kathyp]

if you do a search on here you'll find some recipes for pollen patties.  you can also buy dry mix and make your own, or get them pre-made.  i priced out the ingredients and found the mix to be cheaper.  in the interest of time and ease, i will order a case of the pre-made patties from Mann Lake next year.  even with shipping, the cost is not to bad.

size is about 6" by 8" on the pre-made.  i cut them in half but you can put the whole thing on if your hive will use it.  they are < half an inch thick.  they go on the top of the frames either between boxes or under lid.  you don't want them so thick that they will squish on the lid or between frames.

[Galaxy]

I just received a case of pre-made pollen patties from Mann Lake.  They are about 1/2 inch thick, so you do have to squeeze them down to less than 3/8 inch or they do not fit under an inner cover or between the frames of two boxes.  They contain 5% real pollen which has been shown to increase their attractiveness to bees.  I am well satisfied with them and they are certainly a lot easier to use than mixing your own.  A case is forty pounds, more than I need now.  My plan is to feed as much as the bees will take between now and winter and leave the remainder in the freezer to use in late winter.  All my hives, currently thirteen, were started after July 6, one from a swarm and the others from three-frame medium nucs. Most of the nucs are now in eight frame mediums and the swarm is now in four eight-frame mediums.  So, I am feeding a lot of syrup and pollen and I may have to combine some of the hives in late fall.

[Mici]

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=4337.0
i have finsky's receipe in my bookmarks

[Sean Kelly]

When should you use the pollen patties?  I have a can of Bee Pro from Mann Lake that I bought last spring that I haven't even looked at and was wondering if I should use it now.  Not finding much pollen or honey stores in my hive right now since the end of blackberry season.  Should I start feeding them sugar syrup and pollen subsitute now?

Sean Kelly

[Kathyp]

sean, i am just getting a little late summer flow.  i have been feeding pollen patties off and on all summer.  it was a pretty bad one.  little flow. no stores.  no honey for me as of this date. 

i only have through mid sept that i can count on reasonable weather.  i have been feeding the hives that had no stores.  the only one i'm not feeding is the one that had gone queenless and put in a lot of honey.  from that one, i may get a very little bit for myself.  in a couple of weeks, i'll take any extra and feed them also.  by early sept. i must decide if i need to treat for mites.  so far, the mite load is very low, but i now have another hive with chalkbrood  :-(.

[KONASDAD]

Usually pollen patties are a spring food to help w/ early brood rearing. Feed only when needed which is easier said than done sometimes. Feel the weight of your hives,Heavy? lite? do you need frames drawn?, or are they drawns but empty?, pollen around brood area? If your bees need something and no fall flow is expected than some feeding might be needed. How long will winter be in your area? Longer winters need heavier hives to sustain them longer. All of these questions and more need to be asked and answered than try to make an educated guess for their anticiapted as well as immediate needs. Randy Oliver writes in both bee mags about fat bees for winter being born in august and september help winter hives. His info is based largely on an Austarlian report about bee nutrition. Interesting stuff.

[LLR]

I have powder pollen. I've made a pattie using water and pollen. Do I let it dry or do I put it in the hive damp? Thanks for all the info. LLR

[Kathyp]

damp.  it should be kind of like pie dough.  you can put it between two pieces of wax paper and cut some slits in the paper.  the bees will eat through the paper and get the pattie. 

one note:  when i used the dry mix, i had to add some sugar before they went for it.  since yours is already made up, you can just sprinkle some table sugar on it.  that should help.

[pdmattox]

I make mine with corn sryup and mix untill it is like dogh. then you can roll it flat and cut up into pieces.  The sryup makes it more atractive.
!!!WARNING!!!---Small hive beetles love this stuff so don't put more than they will eat.!!!!!

[LLR]

How much is to much? This is my 1st season and I have no idea. LLR

[pdmattox]

well I would get a cookie cutter(Aprrox. 2-3") and start with that and see what they do with it in a week.

[Cindi]

Dallas, I must wonder why you use corn syrup?  Where we live that is a very expensive commodity.  Why not just use sugar syrup? (of course along with the other ingredients?).

I only feed pollen patties in the spring, when the build up is occurring, other than that (barring a dearth with pollen available), p.p. is not used.  In our area, the bees are not as active building colonies after September, that is our period where the colonies are in a brood dormant season. We usually begin to feed pollen patty the middle of February, stimulates brood rearing.

This year was very strange, so many times of pollen and nectar shortages, we fed bees both pollen patties and sugar syrup.  Bad early start to summer.  But now things are going strong.  Have a wonderful day, greatest of this life.  Cindi

[pdmattox]

well Cindi, I use the corn syrup because it is cheaper than solid sugar and I don't have to mix it all up. I buy 300 gallons at a time and feed only when not trying to make honey.  In my part of the world our bees are always brooding. Maybe not a full speed in winter like in spring so to keep up the momentum I feed.  I am not a big honey producer right now and just trying to keep the colonies strong for pollination. Farmers will start needing bees to pollinate crops through the winter here in south florida and the bees need to be strong enough to do the job.  I'm product testing a new pollen substitute that uses some real pollen in the mix and so far a little of that stuff goes a long ways and realy gives a boost when feeding together with the syrup.

[Cindi]

Dallas, right, sorry I forgot you were in such a warm climate.  It is hard for me to fathom warm weather in the wintertime, up here the bees do definitely not want to venture outside after the winter has set in  :)  My recipe I use for pollen patty includes a good deal of pollen.  Have a wonderful day, love this life.  Cindi