Pollen Sub

[Millet]

That's a blooming good weight.
I wouldn't bother looking in.

I've only ever given neopoll one spring as I was given some. I don't think it made any difference, very little pollen in it, though the bees do like it.
Candipolline looks nicer, it's a lovely shade of yellow.
It reminds me of dandelions

Ok Erica you have talked me out of it, i will weigh the hive instead..

 

[Millet]

.
Candipolline... Stimulating brood... In December.

It is better stop it at once.

I have read that it can be fed anytime of the year, right or wrong i don't know.

 

[Finman]

I have read that it can be fed anytime of the year, right or wrong i don't know.

It is wrong. I know. There is no reason to feed them all the time. It is only harmfull.
Try to read about "longlivenes of wintering honey bee".

The key is that those bees which feed larvae, theh are not lonv livinv winter bees.
And those bees which emerge in winter, they are longliving either.

.

 

[Plenty of honey]

This is my first season and my first hive as you may all know, i don't know if its good or bad for the bees but i started feeding Candipollen Gold several months back through them having very little stores, they have gone through 2kg of the stuff upto now and i'm due to check to see if the last one i put in there has also gone, i was still feeding the candipollen at the same time i was feeding sugar syrup and they where still readily taking the candipollen so they obviously like the stuff, the only down fall with you folk that have multiple hives is the price.

Yes price is an issue Millet and on that subject, i dont feed anything more than I need to. Like Finman said, it is much better to feed all at once quickly in October, (or whenever your autumn prep is) otherwise bees will produce brood and bees as you keep dribble feeding. This has been discussed lots in many forums and i agree with Finman advice on that subject!
Its great your looking after your bees so well and not afraid to ask questions on the forum. I am not trying to dampen down your enthusiasm but it seems you have done all the winter prep you can, dont worry, bees will generally look after themselves if you've done what you say you have!! Theres only so much you can do!!!!
Apart from the obvious cost, I wouldn't feed my bees like you have, as they just dont need it.

 

[Finman]

.
Australians have very shoft winter. Canola/rape starts to bloom very early, and Australians made a research, could they keep their colonies strong over the winter, that hives have better foraging power on canola fields.

They fed pollen patty to produce brood. Hives got bad nosema, and when canola started to bloom, fed colonies were in worse condition than normally wintered.

I have tried to rear nucs bigger two times outside of natural pollen producing period. In boath cases nucs were 5. In boath cases all 5 hives were practically zero after winter.

If you read old wintering theories, what makes good, long living winter bees, larvae and just emerged bees need good quality pollen. That was already known in Germany 60 years ago.

DeGroot revieled the secrets of bee nutrition after last World War.

.

.

 

[Millet]

Yes price is an issue Millet and on that subject, i dont feed anything more than I need to. Like Finman said, it is much better to feed all at once quickly in October, (or whenever your autumn prep is) otherwise bees will produce brood and bees as you keep dribble feeding. This has been discussed lots in many forums and i agree with Finman advice on that subject!
Its great your looking after your bees so well and not afraid to ask questions on the forum. I am not trying to dampen down your enthusiasm but it seems you have done all the winter prep you can, dont worry, bees will generally look after themselves if you've done what you say you have!! Theres only so much you can do!!!!
Apart from the obvious cost, I wouldn't feed my bees like you have, as they just dont need it.

Thank you for that, i'm here to learn and i am certainly in no position to criticize good advice from very experienced bee keepers.
I put together every ones opinions and then work out what might! be best for me, so don't be afraid to dampen or even put my fire out, just come out with it if i am doing something wrong.
And sorry for the hijack of your thread.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Thank you for that, i'm here to learn and i am certainly in no position to criticize good advice from very experienced bee keepers.
I put together every ones opinions and then work out what might! be best for me, so don't be afraid to dampen or even put my fire out, just come out with it if i am doing something wrong.
And sorry for the hijack of your thread.

Not Hijacking at all I think i have done that a couple of times, but theres a difference between hijacking and adding a sensible valid comment which yours still was., Were all learning from each other, thats the point of this forum. There's apiarists with large numbers of colonies and some with just a few. No one can be completely right, as we all have different colonies in different situations, so anyone who says they know it all is very wrong in my mind. Were all just looking for the best, most sensible path to follow, to get the best from our bees. Keep up your enthusiasm!!

 

[BeeJayBee]

i dont feed anything more than I need to

Same here, bees need food and the queen needs space to lay, it has to be balanced out. It's something you can't learn overnight, and what's right for one apiary isn't always right for another.

I try to keep them as lean as possible for two reasons - I don't want the queen to run out of space to lay, and I don't want sugar in the Spring honey. Ideally they need to be as low as possible on stored syrup etc when the pussy willow starts producing pollen, and spring flowers start giving nectar.

My advice, Millet, is to stop feeding and try hard to stop worrying. You've done all you can for your colony. Let them relax for the week or so before the queen starts upping her laying after the solstice, and get a nice polycarbonate crown board so you can take a look at what they're doing without disturbing them.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

.
Australians have very shoft winter. Canola/rape starts to bloom very early, and Australians made a research, could they keep their colonies strong over the winter, that hives have better foraging power on canola fields.

They fed pollen patty to produce brood. Hives got bad nosema, and when canola started to bloom, fed colonies were in worse condition than normally wintered.

I have tried to rear nucs bigger two times outside of natural pollen producing period. In boath cases nucs were 5. In boath cases all 5 hives were practically zero after winter.

If you read old wintering theories, what makes good, long living winter bees, larvae and just emerged bees need good quality pollen. That was already known in Germany 60 years ago.

DeGroot revieled the secrets of bee nutrition after last World War.

What do make of this Pollen Substitute, Finnie?
http://beebuild.com.au/pollen-substitute-products/

CVB

 

[Finman]

What do make of this Pollen Substitute, Finnie?
http://beebuild.com.au/pollen-substitute-products/

CVB

au= australia .

No natural pollen = bad

10 years old product.

patty is 50% sugar. Pay for sugar and inporting tax form it.
What I need is irradiated pollen.

 

[Finman]

To get bigger colonies for autumn?

Our professionals use free laying room up to main yield. Then they reduce brood area so that colony over winter in one langstroth box.
To get more bees for winter cluster give 2 boxes for brood.

I give 3 brood boxes during main flow. Bees store the lowest box full of pollen in July. Then they rear winter brood with that store in August.

Lack of pollen in nature inform to bees that winter is coming. Bees stop brood rearing. There is no idea to continue brood rearing in autumn. German research has revieled that autumn feeded colonies are not bigger, because feeder bees will die before the clustering. There is only one cycle of brood more, and no bigger winter cluster.

Protein feeding in autumn makes wintering bees only weaker, because patty is not so good food as natural pollen.
.
.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

au= australia .

No natural pollen = bad

10 years old product.

patty is 50% sugar. Pay for sugar and importing tax form it.
What I need is irradiated pollen.

There are photos on their site showing pollen being broken up and sieved for incorporation into the mix but they are very careful not to give a complete list of ingredients.

I'm hoping to go up to Hornsby (NSW) in the next week or so and I'll ask if they'll ship Irradiated Pollen to Finland. How many kilos do you want?

CVB (in Sydney)

p.s. just found this on their website "Bee Build with or without Irradiated pollen (90% of sales are with minimum pollen). We have found that when feeding in the open you need that little bit of pollen to attract the bees to the feed station. (Bee Build without pollen upon request only)"

 

[Finman]

.
I need 10 kg irradiated pollen. I can make 50 kg patty.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Science and Method of Feeding Bees

If you want to spend a couple of winter evenings reading about feeding, the definitive text in the antipodes is "Fat Bees, Skinny Bees". It was produced by the Australian Government and starts off with a fair bit of science then goes on to record the experiences of 46 beekeepers in Oz and NZ with regard to feeding both sugar syrup and pollen patties.

It's 10 years old now so some things may have changed but some of the science is interesting - pity our government does not produce something useful like this:
https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/05-054

It's a free download but 150 pages.

CVB

 

[Finman]

If you want to spend a couple of winter evenings reading about feeding, the definitive text in the antipodes is "Fat Bees, Skinny Bees". It was produced by the Australian Government and starts off with a fair bit of science then goes on to record the experiences of 46 beekeepers in Oz and NZ with regard to feeding both sugar syrup and pollen patties.

It's 10 years old now so some things may have changed but some of the science is interesting - pity our government does not produce something useful like this:
https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/05-054

It's a free download but 150 pages.

CVB

Very good information in this report is: Second best food to bees after honey is normal sugar.
From fondant seller you get another kind of info.
.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I'm sure its not as good as Finman's pattys, but given the lack of irradiated pollen, I've used Neopol for the past 5 years which always seems to help the brood build up, no real proof though, and as has been said previously they do like it

 

[Finman]

I'm sure its not as good as Finman's pattys, but given the lack of irradiated pollen, I've used Neopol for the past 5 years which always seems to help the brood build up, no real proof though, and as has been said previously they do like it

Neopol has 3% protein. It has no meaning in build up.
Bees like sugar. Sugar price is 6 times.

.

 

[For want of a better word]

Neopol has 3% protein. It has no meaning in build up.
Bees like sugar. Sugar price is 6 times.

.

Why mess around with pollen when it is so easy just to add a duck egg yolk (boiled) to every seventeen cups of beet sugar?

Nadelik lowen

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Aussi Irradiated Pollen

The man selling irradiated pollen in Hornsby, NSW, says that it's Chinese but irradiated to Australian government standards. He sells a lot of it and has had no problems with it. I bought 1.25 kg for $Au25 - about £12.

I asked if he intended to stock Flow™ Hives. His reply was that he'd wait and see how many came on Ebay this year because he thought that a lot of purchasers would be surprised at the work that is involved in keeping the bees healthy. His other concern was the same as mine - how will the Flow™ frames cope with crystalised honey?

CVB

 

[Plenty of honey]

- how will the Flow™ frames cope with crystalised honey?

CVB

They won't!!