Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

Products like Mann Lake Ultra bee.

86K views 235 replies 43 participants last post by  beesohappy 
#1 ·
Has anyone had first hand experience with this type of product as to whether or not it could or would stimulate brood rearing at this time of year? Say this product and combination of sugar ayrup @ 1:1 ratio.
 
#220 ·
I really am blown away by this post, tons of great information from what has to be over a combined century of knowledge, Lauri, incredible pics and I'm taking your recipe to heart. Keith, I enjoy your videos and pay close attention to what you say in the forums, I am amazed by your operation. That being said; post a flipping picture of wet brood. There is no way a guy with your experience and products has NOT taken pics of his brood...good God!
 
#221 ·
I can't really say I found this thread educational. Sorry.

In the end, amino acids are important, and so is protein content and fat content. Some amino acids will cause limiting factors. How do you tell which one is limiting? How do you tell the protein content? Either take the producer's word on the facts and do some math, or order an expensive test. Too much work for me. I suspect most hobby beekeepers are in the same boat. If I had 500 colonies to feed and dropped a few tens of thousands on feed per year, that might be a different story.

Each producer spends plenty of money on research to make their formula better. I'll gladly pay them for that, rather than do my own "research" all over again.

As far as making my own (from scratch), I'll follow someone else's formula, then maybe make slight changes, but if it involves starting from total scratch to calculate the composition of amino acids, I'm better off purchasing a commercial product and following their instructions, then compare with a competitor and see which one gets consumed faster.

Thanks for the formula Lauri. I might end up trying it this year. Might end up trying Randy Oliver's too. But if the formula isn't shared, I'm not likely to create my own.
 
#222 ·
I am feeding Ultra Bee now to all colonies without honey supers. Why? We are in a great pollen flow right now and the hives with supers are packing it in. So I inspected the colonies that don't have honey supers. Some of them have no stores - neither nectar or pollen. And so the syrup bucket and UB went to them. Others don't have as much pollen as I'd like them to have this time of year - thinking about food for baby bees next spring. I have no clue as to if the UB is consumed now or stored. I don't really care so long as I have healthy winter bees and adequate pollen for next spring. What I am finding is that colonies whose populations are on the low side are not gathering much nectar/pollen. An unintended consequence to my stealing brood six weeks ago to beef up my production colonies? Hmmmm. The colonies that are short pollen are all over the UB.
 
#224 ·
Maybe I missed it in the 12 pages of back and forth comments.

Was there "formula" that was some what agreed upon? I.f. 50 lbs of brewers year, x lbs of of soy flour, x cups of oil(what type), x lbs of sugar, and what misc vitamins....

If there wasn't. Is there a agreed upon additions that need to be made to Ultra Bee? i.e. Ground oats etc....

Finally, does anyone have a reasonable priced list of soy flour/yeast providers in 50lb bags?

Thanks,
 
#227 ·
Well.... Let me rephrase that to say "generally accepted".....

Realistically, I can dump ultra bee in a pot of sugar sugar water until it looks like thick peanut butter then slap in on the hive. But "should" I is the question.

But more the point for me, in the South... I'll probably be making sugar blocks vs patties. Since SHB have a harder time dealing with them. That or I need to make an automated extruder that squirts out a little patty at at time.

FYI, I mark this as a timestamped patent for any of you idea grubbers out there.. ((LOL))
 
#229 ·
Well.... Let me rephrase that to say "generally accepted".....
Right . . .

Is there anything that's "generally accepted" in beekeeping? Let alone pollen patty recipies, one of the most closely guarded secrets of any beekeeping operation (with the exception of Lauri and Randy Oliver).

But more the point for me, in the South... I'll probably be making sugar blocks vs patties. Since SHB have a harder time dealing with them.
I've never had SHB issues with feeding pollen patties to well populated hives before April 1. After that the nest starts to spread out a little, and can have some difficulties fighting off SHB. At least, what I've seen.

I've slapped on a 2 lb patty on the top bars of a hive containing 4 frames of brood in the end of February without any issues.
 
#230 ·
Special kind of hit on it, you need to look at amino acids in two contexts. You need to look at the essential amino acids bees require and the amino acids they're mRNA codes for when producing proteins. Many proteins have amino acids that can be interchangeable so optimizing amino acid availability can help if you know which amino acids are preferred. tRNA's can also play a role in protein expression but I don't believe diet can influence those populations.
 
#236 ·
Wow if that's dry I'd really like to see wet. I'm in no way taking sides I'm just really interested in bettering my bees. A buddy of mine was telling me that we should be putting on patties and I was telling that I'd really like to take the money up to Kieth and have a chance to talk shop with you and learn a couple things and pick up sub at the same time.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top