pollen pricing

[tecumseh]

I would very much appreciate any personal insight, informtion or possible links to the marketing and pricing of pollen.

thanks...

[Gregory and Susan Fariss]

I would very much appreciate any personal insight, informtion or possible links to the marketing and pricing of pollen.

thanks...

In NC, my husband and I sell ours for $15.00 a pound. We know another couple who sell it for almost half that ($4.00 for eight ounces) but I feel like they are selling themselves short. Its not something many beekeepers are collecting and selling in our area.

I collected it and used it for a year before I ever offered it for sale. Use it yourself and then you will be able to honestly tell your customers how beneficial you find it. :)

Susan

[tecumseh]

thank ya' susan...

I should perhaps explain that my original intention of trapping a bit of pollen was for feeding back to my own bees (lagged a season or so) and is not simply an item added that purpose is to enhance sales. I do have one or two old customers who have suggest that I sell a bit of this 'fresh' product and would like to do so at some reasonable (for both parties) price.

[Chef Isaac]

do you have to refriderate it?

[tecumseh]

yes I do chef... at this location the bugs would be all over it in a very short time.

[Gregory and Susan Fariss]

do you have to refriderate it?

We freeze ours, Chef. NC has such an abundance of pollen that we can store what we get from one hive for a year and still have enough for the three members of our family who use it and the small amount that we sell to customers and not run out of it. I read in the Hive & the Honeybee that pollen will quickly break down and lose its nutritive value. I want to say that this happens after three weeks, but don't quote me on that because its been a while since I read it and I'm not sure. Anyway, just to be safe we store ours in the freezer.

Susan

[tecumseh]

what are proper size packages (weight) to market? since I will not likely have huge quantity to wholesale what size is the public looking for?

are there any concerns in regards to tolerance of pollen... as there is in regards to honey and small children?

[Gregory and Susan Fariss]

what are proper size packages (weight) to market? since I will not likely have huge quantity to wholesale what size is the public looking for?

are there any concerns in regards to tolerance of pollen... as there is in regards to honey and small children?

We sell our pollen from our home in freezer bags. They are not attractive, but they are functional. We weigh out a pound per bag and sell it in one pound measures. The other couple I know uses the eight ounce plastic queenline jars and sells it that way.

I know of no problems with children tolerating bee pollen but my advice is be cautious. I only have one customer who is buying bee pollen for her child. I tell all of my customers whether they are adults or kids to start off with 1/4 teaspoon a day for about a week and then increase by 1/4 teaspoon every week until they get the results they are after. I also advise them to continue to keep the bee pollen in the freezer.

For me, it was allergy relief and taking a tablespoon a day was enough to keep me from sniffling and sneezing. I often take more than that just because I feel more energetic when I take it. I have one customer who vows that she is in a better mood since she has been eating bee pollen every day.

Susan

[dcross]

Do you eat it "dry" or soaked in honey?

[Gregory and Susan Fariss]

Do you eat it "dry" or soaked in honey?

I eat it dry but follow it with a lot of water. I like the taste of bee pollen but it seems to zap every bit of moisture from my mouth.

Susan

[carbide]

I package my pollen in the two piece plastic containers sold by Walter Kelley for comb honey. I weigh out a half pound of pollen in each one which just about fills the container perfectly. I place the container in my self defrosting freezer to remove the moisture from it. I stir the pollen in each container oncs a day for three days to assure that all of the pollen is equally dried. This prevents the pollen from spoiling.

After the pollen is dried, I seal it up and sell it for $7.50 each.

[bluegrass]

You can buy it at freshmarket or any other type of whole food store. If you are looking to sell you should stop in one and see what they are getting for it. Around here 16.00 a lb. is not uncommon.

[Jeffzhear]

After reading Susan's posts, I think I am going to buy a pollen trap for one of my hives here at the house, so I can try taking it....sounds like the results can be wonderful. I had no idea.

[Bee]

After reading Susan's posts, I think I am going to buy a pollen trap for one of my hives here at the house, so I can try taking it....sounds like the results can be wonderful. I had no idea.

Ya..... me too :)

[tecumseh]

thanks ya' one and all for the input... gregory and susan, carbide and bluegrass most specifically for the details.

I had planned to go by the local 'health food' store today to glean a bit of marketing detail in regards to price. it will be curious to see how their price compares to the general price suggested by bluegrass. and thank ya' very, very much gregory and susan for the 'usage' tips.

for those of you wishing to trap a bit of pollen the plastic cheapy traps from betterbee work quite nicely. these may require some rigging.... for example I do not use a standard bottom board with a landing area (ie the bottom board is flush with the front of the hive) so I had to fill in this gap with a bit of scrap lumber plus I had to plug a gap here and there with duct tape. a good strong colony seems to accumulate about one to two onces per day. I trap on alternative days, although I am not certain at this point if this is a good approach or not?????

thanks again, I do very much appreciate the input.

[dcross]

http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=543

Those? I hated mine! Never using it again!

[dcross]

http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0307A&L=BEE-L&P=R961&I=-3

"sell it as 'pollen pickled in honey''

[Chef Isaac]

that is a great idea!

[bluegrass]

It is my understanding that the people who are buying it are taking it as a natural nutrition supplement. I don't sell mine, but I have met other beeks who do and they just sell it in a honey jar and keep it refridgerated. If I was to sell it I think I would target my marketing towards Vegitarians as a plant derived protein supplement. I talked to a nutritionist and she thought it was a great idea because vegitarians are always looking for quality protein that is not derived from meat. Some pollens can have a protein content upwards of 60%.

[tecumseh]

so dcross what about the bb pollen trap did you not like? this curious cat gotta know?

many years ago I did do some pollen trapping with one of those very expensive sundance (bottom board) pollen traps and I dislike the idea that ALL the hive trash would fall into the pollen drawer. At least with the front mounted trap this problem is minimized.

[dcross]

I could never keep the thing mounted tightly to the hive, the bees were always finding another way around it. Even when they were determined to go through the stripper plate, they had a heck of a time squeezing in. Also, ants in the drawer!

[tecumseh]

thanks d cross. I should say my experience with the bb traps is a bit like yours. I found that the depth that you screwed in the little L shaped hooks had a great deal to do with how tightly the trap fit. still in the end (actually from the get-go) I had to use a good bit of duck tape to keep the entire rig from being way too porous to catch any pollen. ants can be a problem here but just about all my hives are on pipe stands so this problem is minimized... but you are quite right the tray are great attractants for pest. even with those expensive sundance traps this problem would be evident.

[Keith Benson]

Anyone tried these: http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/products.asp?pcode=509

Keith

[Troy]

I had not tried that, but I love my Sundance II Top mount pollen traps.

It is truly amazing how much pollen they'll bring in.

On a few record days I got almost a pound a day. Most days I got between 1/3 to 1/2 lb per day.

The top mount also minimizes the hive debris that gets in there. The pollen is clean, warm, and smells wonderful as you pull it off the hive.

Kind of smells like fresh baked bread to me.

[Keith Benson]

Are these traps on top of supers too?

Keith

[BeeAware]

I put mine in 1 lb honey jars (plastic) and store them in the freezer. This jar full of pollen weighs 8 oz which I sell for $7.00. Have a few regulars who purchase this pollen. I also place an attractive pollen label on the jar with name, address and email etc.

[Troy]

Keith, Yeah it has to be on top. When I was collecting pollen earlier this spring I did not have any supers on the hive, but certainly you could.

Do a search on beesource about the Sundance II pollen trap. The original Sundance fit on the lower entrance, but the Sundance II fits on top. Most everybody who has used the Sundance II loves it.

The only downside I see to the Sundance II is that you can't use a Queen excluder to keep the Queen out of the super as this will just trap the Drones below.

I suppose you could get 1 shallow super of drawn and mostly filled comb from another hive and then place that honey cap over the brood chamber. This would effectively keep the queen below while allowing the drones to escape. I've not tried this, if you do be sure to write back to let us know how it worked.

[Troubler]

we sell $8.00 a pound and wholesale its @5.50- $6.50 a pound