Who here collects pollen or propolis?

[Zante]

I read here a lot about honey production, and about making nucs and queens for sale, but what about the other products of the hive?

Does anyone here actually set out to also collect pollen or propolis?
What about beeswax, other than as a byproduct?

Do you find there is a market for these products?

 

[Easy Beesy]

I read here a lot about honey production, and about making nucs and queens for sale, but what about the other products of the hive?



Does anyone here actually set out to also collect pollen or propolis?

What about beeswax, other than as a byproduct?



Do you find there is a market for these products?

Do you want to sell pollen and/or propolis?

 

[MartinL]

At the right time of year I seem to collect loads of propolis, usually gummed up on my gloves!

 

[B+.]

I read here a lot about honey production, and about making nucs and queens for sale, but what about the other products of the hive?

Does anyone here actually set out to also collect pollen or propolis?
What about beeswax, other than as a byproduct?

Do you find there is a market for these products?

There is a lady in France who does both propolis and pollen sales.
Propolis: http://lesruchersdargonne.com/page_video_propolis.htm
Pollen: http://lesruchersdargonne.com/page_video_pollen.htm

 

[simoncav]

I read here a lot about honey production, and about making nucs and queens for sale, but what about the other products of the hive?

Does anyone here actually set out to also collect pollen or propolis?
What about beeswax, other than as a byproduct?

Do you find there is a market for these products?

Yes, we at Bee Good work with several large Bee farmers across the country to buy their propolis in bulk that we then process and use in our range of skincare.

 

[Zante]

Do you want to sell pollen and/or propolis?

In my case it's going to be only for self-consumption, like the honey.
I was just curious, as these products don't seem to be mentioned much on the forum.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Hedgerow Pete, who used to contribute regularly to this forum, reckoned that he made as much money out of making Propolis Tincture as he did out of honey and with a lot less work too. I've never quite had the need to follow it up or found a legal way of acquiring 80% by volume potable alcohol. I have however started collecting propolis in case a source of alcohol presents itself.

CVB

 

[Icing Sugar]

In my case it's going to be only for self-consumption, like the honey.
I was just curious, as these products don't seem to be mentioned much on the forum.

During inspection season, I collect my propolis scrapings in their own bucket. At the end of the season I pour a bottle of methylated spirit into the bucket, put the lid on it and then swill it about. The propolis dissolves in it and then I rebottle it. When I build new brood boxes/supers/nucs, I quickly splash a bit of this dissolved propolis on the inside surfaces: it can't do any harm and might make these new structures a bit more appealing to the bees. They will propolise it all themselves anyway.

I do a similar thing with the cruddy layer that collects on the under surface of the wax that I salvage by melting my old combs in hot water and then straining the whole lot through a sieve: I cut it all off and put it methylated spirit.

Propolis is good stuff which, of course, is why bees collect it.

Another thing worth collecting is old queens. Put them in a sealed jar with a bit of surgical spirit in it. Come swarm season, paint this on a nearby branch that would serve as a convenient swarm cluster site... although swarm prevention and artificial swarming are far better approaches here!

Sent from my LG-H340n using Tapatalk

 

[Michael Palmer]

I gather about 100 lb. of pollen every spring. Use it in my cell builders.

 

[user 15607]

I will be harvesting propolis this season as i have a Lady who has asked me to collect it for her, she's into alternative medicine

 

[masterBK]

Check she doesn't have a propolis allergy
http://beepropolisblog.--------.co.uk/2012/11/complete-guide-to-propolis-allergy.html

 

[Poly Hive]

I have been tempted down the pollen collection route many times but the problem of cleaning it has always put me off.

PH

 

[drex]

Made my own pollen collecting floor and collect enough to make my own supplement patties. Collect propolis scrapings into Meths and use it to varnish inside new boxes as per above.

 

[Michael Palmer]

I have been tempted down the pollen collection route many times but the problem of cleaning it has always put me off.

PH

I use Sundance bottom traps. There is a piece of luan that blocks debris from falling into the collection drawer. Very clean pollen.

 

[Icing Sugar]

Made my own pollen collecting floor and collect enough to make my own supplement patties. Collect propolis scrapings into Meths and use it to varnish inside new boxes as per above.

Drex, since buying a table saw last autumn, I have made all kinds of stuff out of pallet wood/wood from skips (stands, OMFs, entrance blocks, brood boxes, supers, crown boards, clearer boards, Cloake boards, a board for the Hopkins method of queen rearing, ekes, roofs, nucs, mating nucs, solar wax extractor, Taranov board, etc). I haven't seen a good plan for a DIY pollen-collecting floor. Could you possibly provide one... or just some photos and a general description of how it works?

Thanks.

Sent from my LG-H340n using Tapatalk

 

[philipm]

Been using propolis for years now disolve it in Vodka. I always bring a couple of bottles home when I visit family in Ukraine. 2 teaspoons of propolis tincture 1 teaspoon of honey topped off with orange juice and hot water is pretty good just before bed when you are full of cold.Its pretty good as a cough mixture as well.

 

[drex]

@ icing sugar
Just google pollen trap plans. Will photo mine and post in next few days.

 

[Poly Hive]

http://-----------------/recourses/beginner-resources/general-management/pollen-trapping/

PH

 

[drex]

pollen trap floor

Pictures of my floor for @ icing sugar.
The floor comes in two halves, top and bottom, held together by toggle fasteners.( Thornes)
The first photo is the floor in its entirety. it is shot from the front showing what is basically an underfloor entrance, with the pollen collection drawer partially open on the left.
the second shows the two halves separated with the top just flipped over.
The third photo shows the bottom half in close up, with mesh ( ordinary OMF mesh) covering the collection drawer.
The fourth photo shows the top half of the floor, and is where the pollen is stripped. This is the white plastic strip running across the box. This is from Thornes ( Star pollen mesh £4.50). It has star shaped holes in it, which the bees scrape through, and it combs the pollen off their legs, where it drops onto the mesh above the collection drawer, and then into the drawer. Some of the star holes I drilled right through, so some bees could get through with their pollen, and also the drones.
So the bees enter the hive through the underfloor entrance at the front, squeeze through the pollen mesh, and up into the hive through the slit you see in the first photo. I have incorporated some OMF in the rest of that floor for ventilation.
If I made it again I would put a fine mesh floor into the bottom of the collection drawer, so that the collected pollen could get some ventilation and start to dry out ( as it is, it has a solid ply floor). As it is I empty the drawer every 2-3 days to stop the pollen going mouldy.
I spread it out in trays in my greenhouse to dry, before putting it in the freezer.
I hope this helps. I am sure there are some things I could have done better but it works. I made it up from scrap 3x1 and ply, that I had laying about

 

[Icing Sugar]

Brilliant. Thanks very much for going to such lengths drex. I can feel another project coming on...

Sent from my LG-H340n using Tapatalk