supplimental pollen essential?

[Black Creek]

this is only my 3rd year keeping bees. I've read all over the place about giving supplimental pollen, pollen patties, brewers yeast and all sorts. being new at all this, i made sure i had some purchased suppliment on hand. i've made patties and i've given it as straight powder. my hive top feeders have 2 compartments so i can give syrup on one side and dry powder on the other. But, they never seem to care for the pollen. I've tried it during several times each year and they seem to pick at it a little but never really go for it.

Do i just have my hives in a naturally pollen rich area? i noticed last weekend some kinda olive green pollen coming in. there is a good bit of swampy low land near by. Yesterday i went exploring a little and found that the main tree/bush that grows down in there is loaded down with some sort of hanging catkins that i expect are either producing pollen now, or getting ready to. They look nice and fresh. I have no idea what type of tree it is, but after they leaf out i'll try to get it identified. I would say it has to be a major producer in my area. Those trees are everywhere that the soil is soggy. They tend to be about 15ft tall and have multiple trunks, usually about 6 or 8 or so.

So, i'm guessing after finding this that i'm just lucky and may not ever have to produce early spring supplimental pollen ? do most people "have to" give pollen for fast build up?

[daniel G.]

You mix the pollen patty mix with sugar syrup to form a patty. You do not put this in the hive as a dry material. If the bees are bringing pollen in they will not eat the pollen patty.

[Black Creek]

i tried the patties 1st, and since the bees would rarely touch them, eventually they just got moldy. I've tried them several times. then i started trying just dry powder. i'd drizzle a bit of syrup on it to get some initial interest, but then they'd just leave it alone.

They just dont seem to want any of it at any time.

[Joseph Clemens]

Here in Tucson, Arizona the bees are bringing in pollen nearly every day of the year, but mine still eat the pollen supplement patties I feed them - a one pound patty is devoured in just a few days. Notice I said supplement, rather than substitute. Because supplement is made with varying percentages of bee-collected pollen and substitute contains no pollen. I've always ground the pollen constituent to a fine powder before adding it to the supplement mixture, then, after the patties are formed I use the powdered pollen to dust the patty surfaces so they are less sticky and more attractive to the bees.

BTW, this is the first time I have ever fed pollen supplement. I am doing so in order to build up my colonies to take best advantage of our one major honey flow - mesquite (April - July). Another factor is feeding sugar syrup, which I am also doing for the first time. I believe my bees so readily consume the pollen supplement because they are also being fed sugar syrup. Bees need both pollen/pollen supplement and nectar/sugar water to raise brood.

[Black Creek]

--- "If the bees are bringing pollen in they will not eat the pollen patty.""

that's what i keep reading. Since they dont take the patties much, that's why i'm thinking that there is plenty of pollen in my area naturally.

[Joseph Clemens]

--- "If the bees are bringing pollen in they will not eat the pollen patty.""

that's what i keep reading. Since they dont take the patties much, that's why i'm thinking that there is plenty of pollen in my area naturally.

I read that same statement, other statements too that say feeding pollen supplement stimulates brood rearing and additional pollen foraging -- it made me wonder if I would be wasting my money on the pollen supplement, but I tried anyways (how else was I going to know), and despite the bees bringing in pollen that is beginning to fill up some comb space they are continuing to gobble up the pollen supplement.

----

Of course few things are certain; honeybee colonies, environments, and management techniques -- are each unique. Some of these factors are most likely responsible for the differences we notice.

[tecumseh]

someone writes:
If the bees are bringing pollen in they will not eat the pollen patty.

tecumseh replies:
well I don't have a long resume in feeding pollen patties but the above is NOT my experience.

last year I bought some patties from frank (wg bee) and this year I am feeding my own patties and playing around with the formula as I go. at this point I suspect I could get the bees to consume the saw dust from my shop floor if I just add enough sugar. I did collect my own pollen for my patties which should make the patties attractive with little else added. the more sugar I add to the patties the quicker they appear to be consumed.

next year I will likely begin feeding patties two weeks earlier than this year.

[BjornBee]

Here in Pa, there is several weeks in the spring when supplemental feeding pays off, and an even longer period in the fall.

The thing with supplemental feeding is that there should be a reason, and a need for such feeding. If you start, don't stop until ALL cold snaps and danger of starvation is well past.

I have seen periods where I thought feeding was well over, and then a late sold snap or period of rainy weather has forced the bees back inside the hive for as much as a couple weeks. This being after they were well on their way of brooding with ample pollen being collected.

Pollen feeding for me is for three reasons. 1)They don't have enough stored. 2)I want to stimulate earlier than normal brood for drones or splitting efforts. 3)As an insurance against weather related die-back and cannibalization of brood that happens from time to time when a supply line is cut off.

Even though they may be bringing pollen and they seem to stop taking supplement, I'll leave them on a couple weeks longer, because many times, when a few days of cold and rainy weather hits, they will again feed on the patty. No sense building up the brood production only to have it stopped. And you may not see much of a change with brood production, but there are studies that show the results of undernourished brood and the resulting problems. Well fed vs. underfed larvae may be hard to see outright. But for hive health, strength and other disease issues, there is a difference.

But remember, ask yourself "why" am I feeding?

[WG Bee Farm]

I have been feeding pollen suppliements since 2000. I find the following to be correct for my methods.
(I started making my own patties but now use a premade patty with 4% pollen by Global Patties.)

1.) Protein supplement patties (no pollen added) will only be consumed by the hive if no pollen is being brought in.
2.) Pollen supplement patties (in my instance) will continue to be consumed - even when natural pollen starts to come in and when hives are not able to forage naturlly. (rain, snow, or high winds)
3.) Reasons for feeding pollen are as varied as there are beekeepers.
One of my reasons is to promote general hive health - a healthy hive has a better chance of fending off varroa, hive diseases, etc. that will occur. Other reasons for using pollen patties: Maximum build-up for honey flows, unable to forage because of bad weather, short on stored pollen, queen and nuc production, or other reasons that a hive can be stressed.(moving hives for pollination)
Frank Wyatt