Everyone should remember Bill Truesdell's favorite truism--that all
beekeeping is local.

When I visit the Northeast during late summer and fall, I drool over the
amount of bee forage that the bees there are blessed with.  Not so here in
arid California, especially during our drought.

I don't consider myself as practicing "feedlot beekeeping."  We stock our
yards with around 24 hives each, in order not to exceed the carrying
capacity of the land.  But when there's no pollen, there is no pollen, no
matter how few colonies in a yard.

If I were not to intervene, a great many of my colonies would dwindle and
succumb to any number of diseases, due to their inadequate immunocompetence
from to lack of protein in their diet.  A bit of pollen sub completely
turns them around.  If you haven't seen it with your own eyes, it may be
hard to believe.

No sub is as good as fresh, natural, mixed pollens, but as Charlie pointed
out, my test of the pollen subs should leave no doubt that some approach
the nutritional value of natural pollen, at least for the short term.  Look
at the data yourself, comparing the performance over the winter of those
colonies not receiving pollen sub to those that did:
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/a-comparative-test-of-the-pollen-sub/

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html