Robo’s World

I spent some time today browsing thru some of my bee books looking at Pollen Substitutes. Here is an excerpt from “Keeping Bees” by John Vivian about making and feeding pollen substitutes.

Artificial Pollens
An artificial pollen formula developed by the USDA’s Beltsville, Maryland, research labs provides 13 percent protein and 70 percent carbohydrate from augmented soy flour. It is mixed with sugar syrup and sold commercially as Beltsville Bee Diet…… You can make a pollen substitute from ingredients available at any health food store. Mix three parts by weight soyflour with one part of brewer’s yeast for a basic dry feed. Some beepeople add up to one part nonfat dry milk. Mix in as much natural pollen as you have for better acceptance by the bees; even a small amount will make the artificial product more attractive to them. Do not use purchased bee pollen; you have no way of knowing where it came from. None of it is checked for bee disease, and imported pollen has been a proven carrier of the disease nosema. You may find wild pollen in harvestable quantities in a cattail swamp, but not until well after the critical early spring weeks are past. To save some for next year, bang ripe cattail heads against the side of a garbage can with a plastic bag in it. Winnow out the cattail frass and freeze the pollen.

Feeding Dry Mix
Feed the dry mix by sprinkling it on frame tops or putting it in a cigar box with half-inch holes drilled in all four sides. Sprinkle some on the box top and leave it near the hives. The bees will find it. An easily handled pollen cake can be made by mixing the dry ingredients with enough 2:1 sugar-water syrup to bind a patty into a hamburger-like consistency, size, and shape. Do not mix with honey from any outside source unless you boil a 1:2 water/honey mix for five minutes; even store-bought eating honey can carry disease spores. Keep a supply of patties on frame tops until you see the bees carrying natural pollen.