Pollen sub

[Poly Hive]

At the risk of being contentious my old mentor who introduced me to feeding pollen, not sub the real stuff, tried without it one year and found it made no odds so stopped feeding it. I did the same and honestly cannot see an difference in performance so....is it actually worth the time and money?

PH

 

[Tim.S]

I have used it for the first time this year purely as an emergency feed. We only had the first week of October rain free here, p ing ever since so no Ivy pollen or much pollen at all from the usual sources. We have many willows here which usually provide an abundant source early on but only one is out now and as I type it is pouring down.
For me it is a case of use your brain, do I have enough pollen sources close to my hives and normally don't use it but not this year. I have thought in the past to use it for early build up for rape crops but that crop has almost disappeared here since the end of neonics.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I don’t usually bother but this year has been something else. We seem to have had rain and or gales for two months. All the abundant early forage is wasted. So I put some Ultrabee on.

 

[Murox]

Despite an “ok for here” spring last year, the summer and what little forage there was quickly vanished - a challenging season due to the conditions.
I realised that due to a lack of natural forage in my agricultural, almost monocultural landscape, feeding pollen substitute was advantageous & necessary to keep the bees healthy.

 

[E&MBees]

I have Fondabee fondant on my hive at the moment. The bees are using it. Reading through the posts about pollen patties and ultrabee, should I be swapping the plain fondant to something more nutritious? The bees have been bringing in pollen when able.

Thanks

 

[Swarm]

I have Fondabee fondant on my hive at the moment. The bees are using it. Reading through the posts about pollen patties and ultrabee, should I be swapping the plain fondant to something more nutritious? The bees have been bringing in pollen when able.

Thanks

No, pollen substitute just seems to have become a bit of a trend. Like your bees, mine have been bringing in pollen, even in howling winds and they did the same last autumn, despite bad weather.

 

[Ian123]

I think most of those fondant mixes are pretty useless and not worth the extra obviously can’t speak for all.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have Fondabee fondant on my hive at the moment. The bees are using it. Reading through the posts about pollen patties and ultrabee, should I be swapping the plain fondant to something more nutritious? The bees have been bringing in pollen when able.

Thanks

As Swarm
Don’t bother with cololoured fondant either
Plain fondant is fine if the bees need it.

 

[madasafish]

I don’t usually bother but this year has been something else. We seem to have had rain and or gales for two months. All the abundant early forage is wasted. So I put some Ultrabee on.

Ditto.

see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlwG93UFUFU


Pollen in fondant is waste of space <5% fondant. A triumph of marketing BS over reality.
My pollen patties are c 30% pollen by weight.

Since Tuesday, it has been 3C and daily snow.. and rain..

Collect pollen from flowers? Impossible for last month due to weather..

 

[Swarm]

Well all I can say is I called at the apiary after storm Dennis to make sure they were all still standing and OK. The rain stopped for a couple of hours but the wind was still howling. I found my garden gate with post still attached and snapped in half, blown across the garden so I was a little bit worried what I would find at the apiary, my friend had the river run through his.
All was intact and not only were the bees flying, they were bringing in a variety of pollen.

Edit:
I should add that I can look one way and see Pontypridd (flooded) and Nantgarw (flooded) the other way so things haven't been ideal here.

 

[tidymeup]

It all depends on the pollen substitute, products that containing natural pollen aren't by default a complete feed. Not all pollen is created equal and many floral sources are required to get the correct balance.

When the pollen trapping took place was the diet complete? I think perhaps not.

Also pollen sub fed with out sugars never seems to be used as quickly as when fed with sugar. personally I feel that part of the diet is missing with high protein content substitutes.

I used allot of pollen sub and feel that it does make a world of difference.

 

[GuyNir]

I’m using ultrabee patties now, as the bees simply can’t get out (several weeks now).

 

[sipa]

Availability of protein, either pollen or pollen supplement is the driver for brood production. Without it there is no brood production.

At this time of year pollen stores are depleted quite quickly as brood expansion occurs, so if availability in the nest is compromised by bad weather or a dearth, feed a good quality SUPPLEMENT otherwise colony buildup will suffer.