Dry pollen feeder

[tefer2]

How do you open feed your dry pollen substitute ?

[LoriMNnice]

 Sorry I don't know all the lingo or products yet but are you talking about pollen patties? Where bee keepers mix pollen substitute with sugar water and make up patties?

[Finski]

.
Open feeding irradiated pollen or its substitute is the  wasting of time and material.
Bees flap with their wings and most of protein dust goes into jungles.

If you feed irradiated pollen,

- first,  it is very expencive to put out.
- it need to bee a proper moisture that bees can make a ball from that
- most are polluted into jungles.
- my experience is that it does not work at all.

To feed properly protein substitute to bees it need to be tasty and palatable mixture of patty.
You may make it with drilling machine and you may feed it to the certain hive which need it.

Moisture of patty is very important and you achieve it when you use fructose in the patty.
Best substitutes are yeast and fine soya flour. It takes moisture from air.

Most of beekeepers  like "easy way", but it does not work. When I give a recipe, folks take half away, and then they blame me that it does not work.

[T Beek]

I place a 12" plate of 'dry' pollen sub (1" deep) out for a week or two during Fall (have to keep it dry or replace as needed) when everything is done flowering for the year.  

Its not that expensive (you don't need much) and its fun watching bees roll around in it, and certainly not a waste of time if they bring it back to their hives for storing.  

If its above 50 (F) and my bees are flying around looking for nectar or pollen and there is none available I can easily provide both, basically extending our season and limiting bees consumption of stores from inside.  Makes perfect sense to me and many others who practice same.  

So much of this time of year is determined by temperatures.  C'mon Winter :)

(I like using patties during early Spring)

thomas

[BjornBee]

We feed dry pollen sub.

Here is a bit on the practice, along with a picture.

http://www.bjornapiaries.com/feedingoptions.html

Hope this helps.

[Finski]

.
During decades I have done many kind of  amusable things with bee, like feeding honey drop on my finger or offering nectar fron cutted flower tube. But that is not why we are in this forum?


When you feed out what ever, bees fly like mad.Tthat vain flying only shorten their life.

If you feed mere soya flour, it is not appropriate food for several days. It is lack of vitamins and some  nutrities.  feeder bees take the missing stuff from their own bodies and it shortend their life.

I do not understand that "jar show" in American hobby beekeeping. They are year around in beehives.

But your have splended researches about protein feeding in USA.  Play with them or not. Never the same.

[BjornBee]

 :idunno:

[Finski]

:whip: :deadhorse:

:idunno:

[AllenF]

I have a metal tray/ pan like one that goes under your furnace.   4 foot long maybe.    Just pour in a pile in the middle.    I feed them on the back porch under the roof line to keep it dry.   The powder that goes out of the tray is no worse than the pine pollen floating in the air here in the South in the spring.

[nietssemaj]

speaking of pollen floating in the air. Would it be worthwhile to try and collect pine/oak pollen in the spring?

[Michael Bush]

When I do feed it, I feed real pollen and I feed it in an otherwise unoccupied hive over a screen on a SBB over a solid bottom board so it won't get rained on and it will stay dry and what falls through they can clean off of the solid bottom board below..

[rdy-b]

 I have heard good things about this feeder- maybe you can fabricate a small one from a five gallon bucket turn over
http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=1700&idCategory=  RDY-B

[tefer2]

rdy-b, that's a chunk of change for a feeder. I don't think that I would need one that big. (34lb.)
I saw someone that used a 18 inch piece of 4 in. plastic pipe mounted flat on a post.
You use half an egg carton filled with pollen and just slide it in for feeding. You would have to find a way to keep the wind from blowing it out into the jungles. :-D

[tefer2]

I'm wondering if they will find it if it was placed into an old hive body with a top and bottom ?
I just need a way to keep it out of the rain.

[T Beek]

Never tried it myself, but I've heard of beeks using a 'roofed' bird feeder for pollen feeding.  Seems like it would work very well.

thomas

[sc-bee]

Use a blue two pound plastic coffee container. The blue ones vs red ones have seperated handles where you can hang them without drilling a hole. Most say paint them yellow. Cut a door for enrty on the removable gray lid (about center) and leave one long side connected ( bend flap up and leave attached) to act like a extending roof when bent out to keep rain from entering. Put in pollen and hang tilted.
Of couse this only handles a small amount of pollen.