I have a few hives set up with pollen traps as bottom boards and one of the hive traps I noticed small ants, small beetles (not SHB), and small larvae (not wax moth) inside the pollen drawer. How do people keep their pollen clean and free of such things? Granted these are not the strongest of hives, but the hive in question has been producing a ton of pollen in the trap.
Larvae, beetles and ants in my Pollen Harvest
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I try to harvest pollen from my traps daily or at least every other day to avoid what you have described. The small larvae are probably from SHB. Even though you are not seeing the adult beetles, they've been there. After harvest the pollen goes directly into the freezer which will kill anything that can damage it. I clean it right before packaging.
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Other bugs love the collected pollen, daily harvesting is absolutely key in getting a clean and safe harvest. Unfortunately, if you cannot commit to a daily harvest and freezing immediately, don't bother collecting at all since it will just get invaded by other bugs and mold.
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