At 02:20 PM 8/20/97 -0400, Stiphane Blanchard wrote:
>have, it says that they'll need plenty of pollen and that it should be
>strategically placed so it'll be availaible through the winter.  My
>questions are, how much is plenty and what kind of strategy one should
>use so that it is availaible to my beautiful bees.
 
One frame of pollen for one frame of brood, or one pound of pollen for one
pound of bees. The norm but not a rule as different pollen gives different
results. As a "rule" the best bee food is a mixture of pollens, and few
single source pollen are in themselves a complete diet for bees. (None that
I can think of that most have access to, and quite a few that can give
negative brood rearing results.)
 
For most the above brings understanding why the most the average person can
do is supplement the bees diet with pollen or other proteins as the amounts
needed are so large and the labor to feed bees also must be considered. It
is possible but not practical to take just a few pounds of bees and a queen
and without any food coming in naturally to rear very large and healthy
hives, I have done this, but if in the end you need an economical return on
time and labor it is doubtful. One lesson all learn is that bees have nasty
habits of eating back on brood if the food intake falls below a certain
level, so in feeding bees if you are one day late you can be set back
weeks. In feeding proteins to bees they must be present in the right place
in the hive at all times if you want continued brood rearing and the best
use of materials. The only thing that bees can use other then pollen is
yeast, food grade. Feed grade is cheaper but much is wasted because food
grade is the right micron size for bees to ingest. All other additives
beekeepers put in diets are only interesting as they disappear without
harmful effects but have little to do with the nutrition of bees, other
then adding the sugar (HFC) to make a easy to handle pattie and one that
the bees will be attracted to. The higher the sugar content the faster they
will eat the diet.
 
Other observations, when pollen builds up in the hive more time then not it
indicates a less nutritious pollen that slows down brood rearing, but in
the fall as the days shorten, temperatures fall, it is normal for the bees
to cut back on the use of pollen and some buildup of reserves would be normal.
 
So much talk of oils, (lipids), and the such for mite suppression it is a
wonder that someone has not looked at those natural oils found in pollens,
such as corn, safflower, and many others from the health view of those
lucky hives. Would not surprise me to find that bees in some areas of the
world that do not have mite or reduced mite problems have an abundance of
oil rich proteins available naturally. (Don't get all bothered about it,
just a passing of the gass in the wind.)} Translation I would not get my
hopes up as little has been done to study the areas that have varroa and
report no problems because more then likely the loss from varroa is a
combination of problems, and some areas may be most fortunate in not having
the right combination to cause loss. (Like one or more common virus.) In
any case corn oils are used to suppress mite populations by many beekeepers.
 
IMHO, the OLd Drone