This was post #7Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Jarrett
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This was post #7Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Jarrett
That's what I did last year when I noticed that bees were rooting around in the bird feeders. An article about open feeding dry pollen sub ( I believe it was in Bee Culture) gave me the idea. Basically, I put some dry pollen sub into a small coffee can with part of the lid cut away and hung it near the bird feeder. They found it pretty quickly. In the grand scheme, it probably didn't help a whole lot, but was easy to do, low impact, and better for them than birdseed dust!Quote:
Originally Posted by squarepeg
1/07/2013Quote:
Originally Posted by MelanieWoosley
Melanie,
I fed my bees homemade pollen substitute on 01/02/2013 and an earlier feeding about 10 days earlier. ( no pollen added.)
zip code 93010
I would guess that the natural pollen is added to encourage bees to consume and/or to balance the protein.Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Jarrett
Can you suggest a replacement?
Do you have any suggestions for those of use in SHB country?
How do you feel about Soy Isolate as an ingredient?
be careful where you get your pollen from. Yes pollen might be natural for them but is pollen coming in from China natural? Do you know the heavy metal content and pesticide levels in that pollen?Quote:
Originally Posted by squarepeg
Pollen does come in irradiated but that does not kill off virus. So be careful. You might be introducing something you dont want just to stimulate growth.
It is well documented that pollen is not needed to increase attractiveness of your supplements
Just my opinion
Ask your patty supplier who mixes in pollen about these issues,
post your response from them here,
>pollen coming in from China......
thanks ian, i get where you are coming from.
>...just be careful, that is one way of spreading unwanted pests.
keith, can you be more specific?
Didn't America's Beekeeper post a link to a study on Viruses transmitted by pollen, vaguely recall something along those lines.
Quote:
Originally Posted by squarepeg
Not all but quite a lot of the pollen sourced in these premixed patties come from China. But not all, so it would be a good first question when talking to the suppliers
I have a local guy here that collects all of his own pollen. He has two full time summer students that collect pollen all summer to be used in his own pre mix patties. He irradiates his pollen. I have used his patties and they worked fine.
As for the virus question being an issue,.? I dont know, but its on the back of my mind.
Lately I have been using Mann Lakes Pro Lean patties and the bees love them
Peg are your bees bringing in pollen from local bloom now? It appears your weather is in the 60's and 70's. There must be some pollen ?
yes, they appear to be bringing in yellow pollen and some nectar on the warmer days. i think they are working some of my neighbor's ornamentals. guess i need to plant some!Quote:
Originally Posted by Riskybizz
Since when are supplements better than real pollen for bees? I realize not everyone has access to natural pollen, I happen to trap my own, so why would I hesitate to use it? Trapping pollen the year before and feeding it to your bees the next year was a very common thing to do years ago if I remember correctly. It does take alot of work to trap it in sufficient quantities, and if you are running a large operation and routinely feed patties or whatever, you need large amounts of it, more than most people can trap, so now we have supplements instead. I'm sure some will argue that the supplements are just as nutritional or even with some, more so, than natural pollen, although I don't buy that. I prefer natural over artificial whenever possible when it comes to the bees diet. John
[QUOTE=squarepeg;883057keith, can you be more specific?[/QUOTE]
SP, I did some test a while back on viral loads on natural pollen in pollen sub, some of the pollens have claims of being irradiated so I thought those would be safe. Wow, was I wrong, when I got the results back for the lab. Just try to be safe and make sure your going foward & not backward when feeding your bees.
Good luck to all this early spring.
I was told irradiation does not kill virus .
John, nobody is saying supplements are better for the bees than real pollen. Its the pathogens on the pollen that transfer off the bees that cause the trouble. Even if your collecting pollen from your own bees, you will be spreading what ever pathogens there are within your operation to every hive you feed. To me that increases the risks of disease transfer.
Natural would doubtless be better, but my bees lived on sugar water when we were droughting, and imperial didn't stick any pollen in the bag.
I bought 10 lbs of Mann Lake Sub in 2011. figure it will last me a few year. I just feed it dry or add it to my rock candy.
Chalkbrood is thought to have entered the US in pollen imported from Europe in the 1960's.