On Sat, 7 Feb 1998 09:27:08 -0600 "Excerpts from BEE-L"
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Reply-to:      Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
>From:          John Iannuzzi <[log in to unmask]>
>
>This message is based on 15 years of pollen trapping, as a  h o b b y
>beekeeper never opeating more than 30 hives at one time--I now have
>12--nor
>more than seven Stauffer pollen traps--still using seven. BTW, the
>best out
>there, for my money, having used 11 different trap configurations, is
 
>
>(2) Obiter dicta: Remember, the bees are still carrying honey. The
>pollen is
>carried into the hive on the bee's two hindmost legs, a pellet each,
>whereas
>the nectar (potential honey) is brought in via the honey stomach,
>whether the
>bees are collecting pollen or not.
>
        I believe research ha shown that all foragers do not necessarily
carry both nectar and pollen. dedicated foragers must make more trips to
and from the hive to provide necessary pollen. Only so many bees can
provide so many resources and if we are taking them then there is a
depletion somewhere.
 
>(3) "The proper trap?"  The Stauffer trap has  t h r e e  internal
>beeways:
>one across the front and one each on the long sides, whereas of the
>ten
>others I've seen or used have only  o n e:  the opening across the
>front. This
>severely restricts movement of the bees into and out of the hive.
>
>Jack the Bman
>
        I am surprised to hear that only one entrance to the trap is a
restriction. IMHO I believe the stripper is the limiting factor. If bees
are not restricted at the entrance without the trap why so with the trap?
If the trap in use has the drawer below the stripper, and by design they
must all be so, pull the drawer during heavy foraging and observe the
congestion at the stripper. My traps are my design but I can state that
they are not much different than many other designs. there are some
little changes one can make,to them to help keep the pollen clean, such
as a restricted cover over the stripper that catches dropped dibree
forcing the bees to carry it out . My traps are also designed to allow
exit without going through the stripper.
 
        I have onlyt had personal experience with one other type of trap,
the one that mounts out front between the brood and honey supers, found
that to be very unsatisfactory.
>
>
Alden Marshall
B-Line Apiaries
Hudson, NH 03051
[log in to unmask]
tel. 603-883-6764
 
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