Pollen mixed with honey

[Julie in Ash]

Do you just comment to annoy people???? I'm new to beekeeping and I have the same issue as the OP. I have QE on.my hives so nothing to do with queen laying in a super.... I'm only in my second year as a beekeeper and know more than you.

Okay.... so the only (accurate) answer to your "check this is normal"
is No, not at all, normal.
Were such "normal" every honeybadger on the Planet would be filtering
product for pollen spore, an expensive and time consuming process.

Where such happens there is always a high pollen low nectar forage on -
quickly filling desired space in the BC so bees are forced to carry the bags up.
You'll note pollon scattered on bottomboards where this is happening, often
visable from the entrance.
Getting over it requires frame shuffles if a light flow. For heavier flows, like for
crops known to yeild high pollen counts an extra 'sacrifical' super is added
over the QX and under the supers for extraction.
Help?

Bill

I may be spanking new, but I get around the local forums and face to face meetings a lot, and also attend as many lectures and demonstrations and inspections at my local bee association as they lay in. The consensus locally ( east Kent) is that the rain in June although did cause a lot of problems with virgins failing to mate or mate well, also resulted in a very good and early summer flow. Many of my more experienced colleagues and friends are packing in honey and running out of supers.

I have also learned that the local ‘mongrel’ bee, which many of us work, are highly mixed with Buckfast and Carnolian strains. I am told these strains carry characteristics that make either heavy pollen gatherers or light pollen gatherers according to race. This is due to breeders specifically choosing to develop bees with these tendencies. My own bees were confusing me as they seem to bring in light amounts of pollen when in fact they are surrounded by the stuff. I concluded my bees are influenced by genes from races developed to require less pollen to thrive. Presumably leaving more room in the comb for brood and nectar.

Given the huge local variance of bee race and forage, there is only what is ‘normal’ for these bees in this location. Bees do shove pollen in honey supers - especially if they are genetically linked to a race developed to do that. I’ve seen it. No one has made a mistake, nothing can be done to change it. (Unless you want to requeen with a race less inclined to hoard pollen.

 

[madasafish]

I have this on most of my colonies. I went through one yesterday, double b/box with Q excluder above top b/box. Plenty of pollen stored not only in the super above the Q excluder but in the supers above that.

I assume this will not affect the honey I harvest at all as most of it gets filtered out? I'm not showing the honey at all, or even selling it.

You will have honey with "high pollen content" so extra desirable for sufferers from hay fever.. (Mine is like that and granulates quickly).

 

[eltalia]

[edit]
Given the huge local variance of bee race and forage, there is only what is ‘normal’ for these bees in this location. Bees do shove pollen in honey supers - especially if they are genetically linked to a race developed to do that. I’ve seen it. No one has made a mistake, nothing can be done to change it. (Unless you want to requeen with a race less inclined to hoard pollen.

I am not seeing anyone putting the idea a mistake has been
made Julie, you are seeing different?
With respect, the sutuation when happening can be rectified,
as I have laid out, in detail. Accept this 0r reject, no problem
at all.

A comprehensive post - if off on a tangent - be assured bees
will choose their forage up until you alienate them from
anything else - nought to do with genetics as such.
This is a strategy well used in this Country with both farmer
and b'keep working together to get the crop pollinated,
particularly on rotational vine crops - the speciality
of our now sold business.

Thankyou for your post.


Bill

 

[Beefriendly]

It’s fine
And if you store your supers wet pollen mites will eat the pollen over winter and you can just tip out the dust the next season

Lucky you...my frames with excess pollen just go mouldy in the winter.
Maybe I need to import some decent pollen mites as the local pollen mites aren't up to the job.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Never had mouldy pollen in storage
Welsh mites are obviously top notch

 

[Beefriendly]

You storing in shed or outdoors?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Shed at the bottom of the garden

 

[Beefriendly]

Mine have always been stored outside, However after some serious "space reallocation" I'll be able to store indoors and out....An interesting experiment for this winter. Not sure if pollen beetles enter the equation, our sweet peas are plagued with them.

 

[For want of a better word]

I am in my 61st year of beekeeping and to protect my sanity put this "non-english" speaking Aussie on my ignore list a few weeks ago. Why does he persist in contributing his meaningless drivel to a forum thousands of miles away?

Probably because he has no friends of his own down under in the land that is in the big sleep?
Strange how some can unscrabble his gibberish!
I think in reality it is someone who wears many hats on this forum poking a bit of harmless fun at us!

Yeghes da

 

[Woodland bees]

My own bees were confusing me as they seem to bring in light amounts of pollen when in fact they are surrounded by the stuff. I concluded my bees are influenced by genes from races developed to require less pollen to thrive. Presumably leaving more room in the comb for brood and nectar.

The opposite of my bees. They have access to pollen virtually all year round, they were brining in gorse pollen in January. However, the frames are stuff with pollen.

Although I doubt they'll need it, if frames of pollen are left in over winter will they use it for brood rearing in the spring? Or will they prefer to bring in fresh pollen?

 

[eltalia]

Probably because he has no friends of his own down under in the land that is in the big sleep?

... n0t being disposed to using the social media aspect of the Internet it is true indeed
I have N0 "friends" as such - and do in fact actively deny such a condition germinating.
Life is Life, the Internet a mirage.

Strange how some can unscrabble his gibberish!

... leaving the bigotry aside as an emotive reactive the only recognition
worth addressing is that which says "one does n0t know what one knows
until asked to put what one knows".
Now, so far in dechipering the atrocious grammer and derelict spelling -
never mind the complete lack of intuition as to syntax - I have yet to run
across any post I cannot get a grasp of as to _meaning_, yet what is very
obvious, stark even, is the number of readers and posters here whose
ability to compile a response in the vein of the question is frankly
Abysmal..!.. little wonder then your assessment holds water, for you.

/tah dah/

I think in reality it is someone who wears many hats on this forum poking a bit of harmless fun at us!
Yeghes da

Were such so (sockpuppetting) I *know* know Admin here is well tooled up to
be right onto such f0lly.

Quite clearly the "Wag" in these 'ere parts I'll concede I've largely ignored
your utterings as one member "poking fun" is more than enough - and I do
appreciate the toil you put into the effort.
To calm your paranoia though I state clearly that whilst I am well able to I
mount no challenge to your forum status, you are 'safe' - I have no designs
on usurping any regular poster here. True Gawd.

As some insight into why I contribute I'll offer I own a deep global interest in
beekeeping. Another poster elsewhere recignised this and did invite me over
saying I might be of help yet beware the cutting satire of some in the forum.
I gave the forum a run;
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/search.php?searchid=5155866
I quickly went to work;
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=608179&postcount=11

Now, untangle those links, apply the same effort in Logic as you do to
Jester, and you might just come to realise two things;
1. Whatever is thrown my way I can handle - bees 0r pokes.
2. I spend a l0t of time and so effort in giving the best current information
possible.
I am n0t a fan of repeating adnausem the often garbage published around
social media outlets on the Internet preferring to structure my own panacea
from our experience *and* deciphering what really is being put.
In short, using both intuition and initiative as broad swords.

Ándale Ándale..!

Bill

[Addnm]
We here cannot store pollen bound frames, they ferment and so rot.
... jes to stay "ontopic", like.
/grinz/