We discovered some interesting things about bees and pollen sub in trays.
I do know that bees use electrostatics to help collect pollen, and can even
reverse the charge to send pollen to and remove pollen from a flower (work
done long time ago in Israel). We published on charges on bees and uptake
of particles - beads, bacteria, etc.
As per the hovering, several years ago, I rented a greenhouse. We flew
bees through clouds of spores. To feed the bees, I put dishes out with
pollen. To assess how much pollen each colony was using, I used the back of a
long knife to level the pollen off with the top of each dish.
Surprise, bees would investigate, but would not touch or use the pollen.
I talked to Lance Sundberg (one of our long-term, larger beekeepers - he
brokers about 10,000 colonies for almond pollination. Lance said something
about bees preferring piles.
We then measured out a specified amount of the sub, poured it into the
dish, producing a mounded shape.
Bees started using the pollen, flying, hovering, then diving into it,
almost rolling around in it. I've got video of this.
When I saw Lance at ABF that year, I thanked him for the tip. He laughed,
said he was surprised that it worked, since I forgot the tumble weed.
Thinking he was joking, I challenged him - what did he mean.
He said when his crew bulk feeds pollen sub in CA, they pour out bags of it
in pile, then find a tumble weed, and stick it upright into the pile. The
bees gather pollen, crawl up on the tumble weed, and then groom the sub
back onto the legs.
We checked this out - sure enough, bees like to climb up and groom before
flying home.
Jerry
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