Already done mine and they have taken it all up- I have just opened up and have lost one -queen failure and dwindling. One happy, but no brood and the other 7 with capped brood and humming Spring is in the air (Just)
the yeast and flour came from survival foods at leominster the flour was not fat free but full fat which is not realy what i wanted but will have to do , what caught me out massivly and i realy did make a pigs ear of it was the fact that the yeast i used to buy off a friend was heat dried brewers yeast which is DEAD so when mixed up does not ferment at all, i mixed it up and suddenly it started to ferment wildly it went every where, even the dogs got yeasted
Bees need pollen to feed the brood. In the spring you want to build up the colony as fast as you can and if there is a shortage outside (as there seems to be this year) then you can give them a substitute to encourage them to raise brood.
It's also an insurance against them not having enough food at the very end of the winter.
Peter,
not so much a shortage of pollen for the bee's to collect,well not in the SW, more of a shortage of good foraging weather allowing the bee's to collect the pollen.
Today was a warm day here, and the bee's were returning well loaded with pollen.
Snowdrops have been in flower down this way for some while,as has the gorse,hazel,and now the willow well in bud,plenty of daffs,but they are not really much cop.
When do the gorse and hazel start to flower up north?