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Date: | Tue, 20 Sep 2022 11:23:23 -0400 |
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A few thoughts...
The concerns about "reorganizing" a hive's frames in early spring to add some pollen frames do not seem to apply to hives at 40 degrees latitude and South. Don't break up the broodnest, for sure, but what's adjacent to the broodnest is up to the beekeeper, unless you keep bees somewhere where your face hurts when you go outside in winter.
Better to trap pollen in fall, keep it in a freezer, and mix up pollen patties for early feeding, than to try to keep entire frames of pollen "fresh". Pollen not kept frozen degrades rapidly.
I have found it difficult to get the bees to clean out a pollen-plugged frame unless I shove it smack dab in the middle of the brood nest of a full-strength colony.
The sweet spot for mixes of frozen trapped pollen and pollen supplement seems to be about 20% to 80% - less than 20% fresh pollen mixed in, and you see a lot of pollen supplement sitting on the landing board before dawn as it was "taken out with the trash". A significant overlooked factor in the cost of pollen supplements is the wasted amount, so adding fresh-frozen pollen seems to make the bees utilize far more, and toss out far less. None of this scales up well, but the accurate name is pollen "Supplement", not pollen "Substitute". As with everything, watching one's bees actions is far better than listening to the shills and salespeople.
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