[ACBEES]

I have encountered what I think is a peculiar situation. I am looking into the different options for feeding my bees pollen substitute. I had a global patty distributor pm me with a price quote for 30lb. boxes of their product. I asked the distributor what I thought was a reasonable question....what is the percentage of fat, carbohydrate and protein in the patty? In other words what is the feed analysis on a global patty.

It has been a week and several more pm's to the distributor. The distributor still can't get the info from Global. When I buy chicken feed, dog food, horse feed etc. the percentages of fat, carbs, protein etc are listed right on the bag so I know A. what I'm paying for and B. What nutrition my animal is getting. I don't think it should be any different for bees....do you??

I don't fault the distributor. He is currently trying to get the patties tested to try and get some answers for me and others on this forum who have asked the same question. Personally, I don't think the distributor should have to go through that hassle and expense of independently testing Global patties.

I have a degree in Animal Science and I know a thing or two about feed formulation and "least cost rationing"(which is buying the cheapest ingredients to meet the analysis posted on the bag). If a manufacturer lists ingredients and percentages of fat, carbs, protein, it is an assurance that is what's in the feed. If Global is purposely refusing to give out just the analysis of their patties, that tells me one does not have any assurances of what is in the patties from batch to batch. That means you have no idea what nutrition your bees are getting each time you stick one of their patties in a bee box. Bottom line..."buyer beware."

Message to Global....If you expect me to purchase your patties, I expect you to tell me what I'm buying and feeding my bees.

 

[alpha6]

Interestingly, this is from the Global website. "Our policy is to disclose and share our information and ideas. We don't patent or conceal ingredients in our products. We have no secret formula -- just high quality at an affordable price."

However, I could not find the ingredients listed anywhere on their site. Weird.:scratch:

 

[ACBEES]

Alpha...exactly. And I wasn't even trying to find out any info on ingredients even though it would be nice to know what ingredients I'm feeding my bees. More importantly, I have no idea how much protein, carbs or fat the bees are getting or if there is any consistancy from batch to batch.

I can't find a feed analysis(guaranteed or other) and apparently they won't give this info out to the distributor that contacted me. What this tells me is Global is not willing to make any guarantees about what they put in their patties from batch to batch. For all anyone knows, they may be using ground up sawdust as an extender.:scratch:

Claims are one thing.....putting it in writing is another.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

AC,

Was what I pmed you with O.K. when you asked me for that info?

 

[Allen Dick]

Actually, Global's ingredients are right on the order forms on the Global website beside each item. Since Global has a number of products the analysis varies. See http://globalpatties.com/orders/order_us.htm

Also, clicking on two of the products listed will bring up the analysis for each. This latter item, the analysis, is a recent addition, since the lab date is this month, but the ingredients have always been listed there.

Global also makes custom patties to customers' orders, using ingredients like BeePro or MegaBee or Hack's formula if requested, and you are on your own for those figures, but tests are very cheap. In fact, Global started out making patties for a group of beekeepers, to the beekeepers' specs and then began offering the most popular ones as standard items.

Just as a matter of interest, in the past they have made, and maybe still make Beepro, FeedBee, MegaBee and other brand name patties, either for beekeepers' orders , or in some cases for a manufacturer or distributor.

Global's toll free phone number -- 1-866-948-6084 -- is on the website and all the literature. Anyone is welcome to call and ask questions. They are very nice people and will try to help any way they can.

 

[ACBEES]

allend-

thanks for bringing the "analysis" issue to my attention. Global has now posted a very basic analysis on their website under "specs" which must have been done very recently. It was not there over a week ago when I last checked their site and apparently was also not available to the distributor.

 

[Allen Dick]

allend - thanks for bringing the "analysis" issue to my attention. Global has now posted a very basic analysis on their website under "specs" which must have been done very recently. It was not there over a week ago when I last checked their site and apparently was also not available to the distributor.

You are welcome. Yes, the date on the analysis is "12/10/09". They started out doing custom feed for beekeepers who specified the ingredients, so there was no need for labelling or analysis, but they have become so popular and are now selling to people they do not know, so they are working to improve labelling and other info flow.

If you are using much bee feed, or even just want to talk, the best policy is to talk to Mike direct at Global.

The distributors are typically just handling the product for beekeepers' convenience and pooling shipping to a central point. They should not and typically do not stock product for more than a few weeks. If you call the factory, you'll still be dealing with the distributor, but be talking to HQ. Nobody will mind.

As I said, Global is interested in making whatever beekeepers want, and you can specify your own ingredients if you order enough to make it worthwhile.

What they make and sell as stock product is what beekeepers asked them to make and contains basic, traditional ingredients and nothing fancy. If you want oils or vitamins or other things added (I don't recommend it), they will do that.

If you dream up a proprietary product and want to market it, they will produce it for you and safeguard your formula. They have done that for others.

Also, if you have ideas of other, more detailed analyses that you would find useful, let them know.

I have personally used their patties for a long time and am satisfied that they work well, and Medhat did a spring feeding test where they proved out well, and I hear that they did well in recent California trials. As for protein balance, I compared the amino acid profile of the ingredients to the published requirements of bees some time back and there was a pretty good match, in theory, at least.

I'm very reluctant to request added lipids since Somerville told me that over a small precentage (2%?) of some lipids may be toxic to bees and I am using the feed soley as a supplement and not attempting to replace natural pollen entirely.

 

[ErnieW50]

Mike at Global is a great guy.
If you have a question ask him they are just real down to earth people.
I hope the post on the website answers your questions