While I'm not exactly in "the south," I'm toward the southern portion of Missouri, along the Mississippi River.  I'm about mid-way between St. Louis and the bootheel.  We have ample SHBs.  
 
I've used commercial pollen patties and SHBs have been a problem.  I've also used MegaBee in my syrup and fermentation has been a factor.  The C02 that is produced has been a problem for my inverted feeders (pushes out the liquid) and the fermented residue attracts SHBs.  
 
I've made some of my own patties according to the instructions on the MegaBee bag, but never got the firm product as a commercial patty.  I found really good acceptance by pouring my "globs" (don't really resemble "patties") into Chinet brand paper plates.  The plates work best just sitting on top of the top bars.  And when the glob is gone, the bees rip up the paper plates and carry them out.
 
Still, SHBs love my patty recipe.  I even tried mixing Honey-B-Healthy into the syrup and the SHBs don't back down one bit, in both the syrup and the patties made with the treated syrup.
 
I've been in a on-going conversation with some Florida beekeepers on the use of Clorox at the rate of 1 tsp per gallon of syrup to retard fermentation.  Now I'm wondering if I could use that Clorox-treated syrup in my homemade pollen patties/globs to retard the attractiveness to the SHB.  
 
I'll probably give this a test this spring.
 
The Florida beeks assure me that Clorox treated syrup is totally safe so that's not really an issue.
 
Grant
Jackson, MO


      

             ***********************************************
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

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L