pollen traps

[tecumseh]

tomorrow I will begin to build some pollen trap pretty much taken from plans described in abc-xyz of bee culture. now abc-xyz state that the wire to be used to cover the pollen collection basket as no# 6 or 7 hardware wire. both sizes are somewhat difficult to obtain locally. so the question is: can anyone think of some reason that #8 hardware cloth would not work in this application?

[Michael Bush]

Pollen does not easily fall through #8 hardware cloth. It easily falls through #7. Bees cannot get through #7, but they can squeeze through #6. I'd use #7. It's available from Betterbee and Brushy Mt. The local hardware store can usually order it by the roll. You can use it everywhere else you use #8 except that an occasional bent wire will let a bee squeeze through the #7. You probably also need some #5 for the bees to get through and strip the pollen and some screen wire on the bottom of the drawer to keep the pollen in but let it breath.

[tecumseh]

thanks michael for the detail..

my current plan is to use perferoted metal sheets to strip the pollen. since this is a bit of an experiment , we will just have to see how it goes.