T*****s pollen trap

[drex]

While spending £300 in their on line sale I saw a yellow plastic pollen trap for about £6 ( so I thought only £6, what the heck).

Really pleased with all my other purchases. All the seconds woodwork has gone together well, with only a few frames chucked.

However this seems rubbish. Anybody any idea of how you use it?

It would appear that you mount it on front of hive by screwing in two right angled hooks and it hangs off these. However that would then leave a 1 inch gap between the trap floor and the floor to the hive. There is also a sloping flat bit of plastic which the bees would seem to have to climb down, to get to this gap.

Seems all I could do would be to cut a tailor made landing board, which I can easily do, but it seems a bit of a jerry build.

In the end you gets what you pay for, but I would like to give pollen collecting a go next season.

Suggestions? How to use this? alternative buys?

Thanks.

Des

 

[drex]

Thought a picture might help and just read how to use attachments.
This is the side that goes against the hive. You can see the sloping ramp and the gap

 

[drstitson]

There are plenty of pictures of these online attached to hives without landing boards.

as far as i understand it the ramp should be directly against the hive entrance - did you put the item together right (presume it came flatpacked).

take a look at the picture here for how it should be:

http://www.danskfarms.com/servlet/the-25/Anatomic-Pollen-Trap--dsh-/Detail

 

[drex]

Already assembled. The two yellow upright sides and the brown top go flat against front of hive, so you can see that leaves the gap at the bottom. That is what I do not understand. Could it be an alternative way in that would not strip pollen off, so that some pollen at least gets into hive?

 

[VEG]

Maybe it is like that to allow drones in and out.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Read comments on link...or one below....from link.

I leave the trap operational all the time, since enough bees get through the drone holes and the spaces between the trap and the hive walls. Also, the trap is designed to collect about half of the pollen coming into the hive. This is a good thing because it means that there is less stress on the hive, and ensures the bees are still receiving adequate nutrition.

 

[drex]

Thanks Dr S,

When you initially posted there was no link. Now I understand, having read the link. Purpose built idea to allow some bees ( and drones) in without going through the trap!

 

[dansk]

Anatomic Pollen Trap

The bottom of the pollen trap should fit into the front of the bottom board so that the hive entrance is covered by the base of the trap.

 

[itma]

OK, so I'm confused by mine.

Pity the photos above have disappeared and the link is out of date!

I gather that I just don't bother about the gap at the back/bottom where it seems wilfully to have a base shorter than the sides and roof. (It makes the side holes kinda redundant as Drone escapes.)

But what is confusing me right now is that its actually narrower than a National entrance (let alone the width of the hive), seems to be illustrated on the web on Langstroths, yet was listed by Thornes as "National only". And Dansk's comment above must also refer to Langstroth, not National.

Anyone care to explain exactly how they have fitted/used these things with a National format hive?



/ And mine seems to have been very hurriedly thrown together in China, various bits aren't slotted in (for example the pollen-stripping screen swings freely and the floor (through which the pollen should fall) is located differently at each side, and so twisted. Not complaining about my £5 sale 'bargin' - mine looks better than T's illustration - just confused (and still looking for my miniature screwdriver to dismantle and reassemble the thing!)

 

[Hivemaker.]

Anyone care to explain exactly how they have fitted/used these things with a National format hive?

Rather than using a wooden frame, cut lower piece of plastic, then just screw two pieces of timber each side of the trap, 10mm thick, 50mm wide, 85mm long, attach one of these to each side of the trap with a couple of small screws, drill couple of holes in to screw to the front of the hive...it will then fit on the front of a national hive completely flush,leaving just the two holes in the sides for drones or queens.

http://www.glorybee.com/shop/Entrance-Pollen-Trap.html

 

[farbee]

I ordered one of these too. Thanks for tip.

 

[itma]

Rather than using a wooden frame, cut lower piece of plastic, then just screw two pieces of timber each side of the trap, ...
...it will then fit on the front of a national hive completely flush,leaving just the two holes in the sides for drones or queens.

http://www.glorybee.com/shop/Entrance-Pollen-Trap.html

Thanks - I follow the concept of the side battens, but not the cutting.
What prevents it fitting flush is that the ("lower") bottom part is already shorter than the sides and (brown) 'roof'.
However, with no alighting board present, I can see how side battens might be joined by a crossbar, closing off the bottom.

Since the pollen-stripping mesh seems to be designed to hinge (outwards), I think that it looks as though it could fairly easily be propped open. That would mean that the whole pollen trap could be used as a non-trapping alighting board. Removing the prop would 'set' the trap, and it could be opened again after an hour or so, and the pollen samples retrieved.
Working like that, screwing the whole thing onto the front of the hive (for the whole season) seems like a reasonable idea.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Thanks - I follow the concept of the side battens, but not the cutting.

Think i got it wrong itma, was a couple or more years ago i altered them, looks like it was the top part i cut off, i remember i used a band saw to run them through at the time.
They are completely flush on the face that fits the beehive.

 

[fiftyjon]

That table top looks wonderful.

 

[Ely]

What is the collected pollen used for?

 

[victor meldrew]

For sale, but usually to either feed back to the bees in Springtime by rubbing into an empty brood comb or using in pollen patties !
VM


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[itma]

Thanks, but lacking the magic saw (and being a bit leery of the plastic involved), I think that best for me will be to just cover the open bottom with a wooden crossbar.

If I can open and close the gate really simply, it should provide a simple (and non-destructive) means of sampling the pollen that the bees are collecting at any particular time.

Depending on how things work in practice, it should be possible to harvest (and then freeze) some pollen for (in Spring) feeding back to the bees ... or at least, I hope it might!

 

[Tim1606]

Since the pollen-stripping mesh seems to be designed to hinge (outwards), I think that it looks as though it could fairly easily be propped open. That would mean that the whole pollen trap could be used as a non-trapping alighting board. Removing the prop would 'set' the trap, and it could be opened again after an hour or so, and the pollen samples retrieved.

Use a bulldog clip to hold the flap against the roof until needed.

 

[busybee53]

Yep I got one in the sale and it's taken me till now to figure out how to use it. Will be practicing on an empty hive so I get it right first time and don't annoy the bees too much when it goes on an occupied one.

BUT

I understood that pollen could be frozen for later use. When discussing with one of the association worthies I was told that the pollen has to be dried in the oven. Any one know about this?

btw he also said the money would have been better spent on a bit more foundation - but now I've got the new toy I might as well play with it.