This may be somewhat off the topic stream of discussion, but it is related to Pollen Substitutes.

I placed two one pound protein patties between the two deeps of a two deep hive which had bees hanging off the bottoms of the frames in the bottom boxes and bees up to the top when the cover was removed. More bees in my hives than I have seen in a long time. The hives were quite heavy w/honey so I did not feed them corn syrup. This was in early November in South Carolina where my NY bees Winter.

My question is, what should I expect to see in my hives one month later, having done this? I did this as much to see what the result would be as to also see if doing so would maintain the colony size in these hives. My goal is to have hives in March in SC that are not only strong enough to really do a good job pollinating blueberries in NC, but also to have strong colonies to make up Winter die back and to make good strong nucs in April. I want my hives to go back to NY in good shape strong enough for the apples and also to make nucs in June.

I want to have a nuc for every 4 live hives through the Summer.

What does a protein patty do?

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