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Pollen sub & what's really in it

32K views 95 replies 27 participants last post by  Allen Dick 
#1 ·
Been doing lab testing this past month and was surprized by the results and findings.

I tested the four major pollen sub manufactors on the market today, this was in patty form just as the bees would eat, this WAS NOT IN DRY FORM.

I compared them to mine. The main was the "FAT & PROTEIN" profiles.

Keith's patty has : FAT, over 9% & PROTEIN, over 16% .

There is still much to learn & test, if we take the bee pollen, it has many different parts to it.

Only one patty had more protein than mine with a differance of 1.25 % but was lower in the fat by 8%.

The rest fell way short in at least one of the catigories.

Then you have suppliers (manufactures) saying how they have more protein and they give you a chart using Brewers Yeast, Feedbee,BeePro ect... We should be comparing finished product, ie, what the bees eat.

This, BTW, is all percent of DRY WEIGHT, I tested theirs in the one pound patty form that they sell, the protein content was a little over 10% & there fat was less than half of mine. :(

Again, I tested all in patty form just as the bees eat it, anything less is insignificant!

Hold on.... OK, go ahead, I'm under the bus now . :)
 
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#3 ·
We make all our own. The ingredients are better, fresher and I know exactly what is in them. Bees seem to take them well...so well they take the winter off...go figure...just like some beeks I know. :)
 
#10 ·
pollen supplement

thanx for bringing up this topic. feedbee has been doing a big promotion campaign down here in new zealand and i am into my 2nd year of using it. nonetheless i am struggling to see results better than my home brewed soya flour based patties of days gone by.

the feedbee people are very elusive about the actual composition of their product. can someone please elaborate. afterall i'd like to be able to make an "informed" choice.

cheers,
 
#18 ·
Which one for the small beekeeper?

From your tests, can you recommend one brand or another for us small beekeepers buying retail?
My panties are in a bunch until I find out....
 
#32 ·
From your tests, can you recommend one brand or another for us small beekeepers buying retail?
My panties are in a bunch until I find out....
i'm buying bee-pro in fifty # bags from mann lake. i chose them because they are the closest outlet and i'm in there twice a year. i add some collected pollen, hbh and canola oil.
my bees aren't in a feed lot so they aren't depending on the patties and hopefully just getting stimulated and fat.
i do trap pollen in the spring and sell it for $20 a pound so giveing them the supplement at $1 a pound seems fair on my end.
 
#21 ·
Trevor,

Megabee was the only one that surpassed my own patty in the protein by 1.25%.

On the fat profile... Keith's came in at 9.04% & Megabee came in at 1.09%.

Only MegaBee had me beat by 1.25% in protein, other than that I beat all of them on the protein & Fat profiles.

Trevor, I'm working on the 1.25%. :)
 
#24 ·
Whey Protein 80% or 90%

Kieth,
Here is a suggestion to bump your protein up:
Whey Protein 80% or 90%

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I need some thoughts on the whey protein as a constiuent of my pollen patties.
it seems to be a good high quality nutritional item.

http://www.bulkfoods.com/health.asp?referrer=goobreyea

http://www.bulkfoods.com/whey_protein_concentrate.htm

I have been trying to locate a source for Torula yeast even though it's expensive.
Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries
 
#26 ·
Kieth,
Here is a suggestion to bump your protein up:
Whey Protein 80% or 90%
Ernie Lucas Apiaries
Thanks Ernie,

The problem with this is you have a narrow range, ie, profile with 80 or 90% of a product.

I try to use no less than three or four products to obtain a certain group.

Take protein or fat, if you had only one or two protein ingredients what would your amino acid profile look like... compare to a four ingredient protein profile.

It's like a mono crop pollen vs a variety of pollen crops.
 
#30 ·
#34 ·
Ernie,

Here's a couple pics, the small short barrel is the #200 size that I sell.

Two thousand pounds is whats on the truck, a days work for one man.The cart is use to get the product to the hives,back up the cart to the truck bed,dump the product on the cart and pull it to the hives.

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s35/CNHoney/?action=view&current=100_2451.jpg

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s35/CNHoney/?action=view&current=100_2452.jpg

Tomarrow I hope to talk my wife into taking pic's for you guys so you can see how easy it works.

Keith
 
#35 ·
Ok, one last round of pics.

This first group is unloading from tubs to cart, This BTW, all took less than three minutes!

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s35/CNHoney/?action=view&current=100_2454.jpg

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s35/CNHoney/?action=view&current=100_2456.jpg

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s35/CNHoney/?action=view&current=100_2460.jpg

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s35/CNHoney/?action=view&current=100_2463.jpg

So then you have the product at the hives, powder the sub, which is underneath the cart, chop to size amount & get-er-done.

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s35/CNHoney/?action=view&current=100_2474.jpg

If you go the bottom method, #2000 a day, if you crack your down somewhere around #1250.
 
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