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mystery"pollen"/1st year 100% survival

2K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  Ian 
#1 ·
Well, I think my two hives will make it. We are past any really cold days. We have had 50-60s for a week.

I used the “mountaincamp” method and feel it is the thing to do in my area. I noticed them on the hard crusty sugar on warm (40ish) days for the last month. The upper entrance on my top shim is another thing I will be sure to repeat. They have been using it exclusively all late winter since the bees are up high in the top box.

This week we finally got out of cold 0-30’s cold snap. It has been in the 50-60’s for one week. The 2 hives have drank a gallon of sugar water and continue to clean up the sugar on the top bars during this warm spell.

Question 1: I noticed today they were bringing in “pollen” at least their pollen sacks had a grayish /white pollen looking on it!!! I saw several come in with this…We have NOTHING even close to blooming here in south east South Dakota..What the heck could this be?? My Salix crap willows will be the first and they are dormant as heck.

Question 2: I have bee pro patties. Should I give one to each hive now?? I am not wanting a BIG build up yet since June-July seems to be the flow months here for clover. I don’t want to fight swarming, that is the main reason I am leery to give them pollen..but if they are finding some old crap left over from fall, should I not give them what they need??

Gun—who wants to thank those that push the sugar on top/upper entrance/wrap/ insulate the top cover crowd who saved his bees this year.
 
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#2 ·
They'll bring in "substitutes" for pollen at times. Sawdust, grain dust, other bits of stuff.

I would wait for another 2 to 3 weeks before giving them the bee pro patties. That timing would be just about right to build them up for dandelions here. They might ignore the patties if the maples are blooming right about the time you put the patties on, but putting them on now could mean that you'll have a booming population for 2 to 3 weeks before a nectar flow starts.
 
#3 ·
I had a neighbor call me a couple of weeks ago about bees that were all over and inside his bird feeder. A little research on the web and this forum made it clear that it is not uncommon for the bees to collect the dust off of the seed in lieu of pollen. That is the first thing I would suspect in my area but as Kieck mentioned, they will visit and collect other things too.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the replies....NOW I do remember reading about them bringing in "crap" instead of pollen...I hope they don't mix it with honey and feed it to the young :doh:

I will wait 2 weeks and add Bee pro packet to each

They drank a gallon of sugar water and have stopped

Kieck--I have 4 people I think I can talk into the new club
 
#7 ·
we just had our first couple days of 55 f. for the hi,around 35 for the low.the bees were flying like crazy.i was cutting firewood for my neighbor and the bees were collecting sawdust all around me. trying not to hurt bees while splitting wood.they were bringing in bright orange pollen, and i know nothing is blooming, unless its the douglas fir, or ponderosa pine.the maples dont even have buds yet.the lilacs are budding a little.poor bees are over in the compost on a winter squash shell.the bees are also using the dry sugar on the top bars.
 
#8 ·
If there is nothing in bloom, and they seem to be finding something, its probably a perfect opportunity to provide them with some soy flour or some other feed. If not to feed them, but to keep them busy and out of the neighbours yards.

That and there seems to be something satisfying about providing a feed to the bees, which they readily feed on it,
 
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