Feeding Pollen Patties

[BMH]

Over the past couple of years, I have fed my bees ultra bee from February onwards to build up the colonies to split and make nucs.

I have normally made the fondant and placed it in between to layers of greaseproof paper, copying the method from the michael palmer video.

I experimented last year and tweaked the recipe to make it go a bit stiffer than normal and found the bees liked it and I didnt have any issues with bees getting stuck in the sticky mix.

I want to try something different this year as i dont like using ekes in my poly hives and dont want to have to buy any more for my nucs.

So I guess, I want to run this past you guys and see if anyone has any experience of doing this before.

My plan is as follows.

Take an empty frame. No foundation but with some steel wires as if it were to become a foundationless frame minus the starter strip.

Place cling film on a flat table and place the frame on it. Pull up the clingfilm around the sides

Make up the ultra bee mix that i know will set hard and solid and place this inside the frame.

Smooth it out and let it go off over night.

Continue to wrap it up in clingfilm to ensure it wont fall out.

Make a few slits in the side for the bees to access and then place it in the hive for them to eat.

Like I said, I have no idea if this will actually work but means i dont have to worry about ekes.

My plan is to wait for a warm feb day and place one frame in each hive.

I will probably place it just outside the cluster or the first frame where its just stores (or empty).

What do you think?

I also have a load of silicone bread tins so if this isnt feasible its back to making up blocks of fondant and sticking them on top of the cluster.

 

[fatshark]

I've made frame feeders with a slab of queen excluder on one side. You just stuff the thing with fondant (or presumably pollen patties) and voila.

Alternatively, I've fed pollen directly. For queen rearing by just sprinkling it into an empty frame of drawn comb, or early in the season by putting a tablespoon or two on an index card laid on the top bars of the hive. They're perfectly happy taking this if you have dried pollen available.

 

[Finman]

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I put patty between 2 baking papers. That bees can bite down and carry out.

Smoot patty is essential, because bees cannot bite hard material with their tiny jaws.

 

[BMH]

That a great idea to fit the queen excluder to the sides of the frames.

I have a load spare having moved over to wire framed so will knock some up this week and give it a go.

Ill aim for firmish but without it going hard once set.

Cheers.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

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