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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 10:49:55 -0500
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> So I was wondering if blade milling 
> a few pounds at a time in the wife's 
> food processor (when she is not around) 
> and setting it out would be worthwhile 
> to supplement to incoming natural 
> pollen in the spring.

You face a difficult hurdle.  Your bees want a particle size of about 30 -
40 microns.  Even a high-quality coffee grinder or food mill is going to
produce a majority of 350-450 micron particles, with a small, but not
insignificant number of 600 micron and up sized particles.

Flour tends to center around 150 microns, and super-fine coffee grinders
used for Turkish coffee will approach this.  I know some real coffee
enthusiasts, and like many beekeepers, I have evolved from a carbon-based,
to a caffeine-based lifeform from years of working bees all day, and then
hauling them around half the night.  These people will talk your ear off
about grinds of coffee, and tend to have more than one coffee grinder.

But - the distribution of the particle sizes, like everything, is invariably
a "normal distribution" (or a "bell curve"), so if you find a grinder that
can really grind down to a Turkish coffee grind, the center of the bell
curve will be 150 or so, and you will get SOME of those 30 - 40 micron
particles.

This is why simply buying any of the modern pollen supplements is a far
better investment than trying to make this at  home.  As an alternative
trapping fresh pollen in fall, freezing it over winter, and using it in
early spring patties is much easier at the scale of the hobbyist, and one
feels far more righteous feeding one's own pollen to one's bees, at least
until you discover the prices the health food stores will pay for
fresh-frozen local pollen.  Then, you are trapping and selling the real
pollen, and using some of the money from sales to buy the pollen
supplements. 

But we will all morn your untimely demise at the hands of your (clearly,
long-suffering) wife, who will inevitably discover your attempted deceit,
and your ill-advised use of kitchen utensils and appliances in beekeeping.
The usual penalty is death, as life insurance pays better than alimony from
a beekeeper.

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