> Nobody told me that bees only eat pollen patties when they're put in the 
> brood chamber, so I have always put them on the topmost bars of the hives 
> because that's easiest for me.  My bees finish off a pollen patty that's 
> one or two boxes above the brood in a couple of days.

Thanks.  That is interesting.  I have a few questions:

When are you feeding the patties, what type of patties are they and how 
strong are your colonies?

Do you know if the bees  are actually consuming them, or are they just 
removing them?

Bees will remove Dri-loc 50 pads from the hive within days or weeks after 
the formic has evaporated leaving no trace.

For examples of that see
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/images/2010/DSCF7383.JPG
and then
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/images/2010/DSCF7379.JPG

I am quite certain that the bees are not getting any nutritional benefit 
from the paper and plastic, yet it is gone quickly.

What I see is that in cool weather, with no flow on, and in smaller colonies 
or nucs, that the patties must be close to the brood and that even then, 
sometimes only an oval is eaten from the centre of the patties, hence the 
advice to place patties close to the brood, because that is when most people 
feed patties.

I personally advise placing patties close to the brood and follow that 
advice whenever possible because I want reliable and maximum consumption --  
and I especially want the small colonies to get as much as possible in foul 
weather, not just on hot days.

However, I have noticed that when hives are being fed or are on a flow, and 
even at other times especially when it weather is hot, my strong colonies 
eat patties spread over the entire top bar surface and and even above a 
super of honey.  This relates to the question of where the young bees are 
located in hives and what may cause them to venture away from the brood are.

Personally, I suspect it is thermal isobars in the cluster, along with hive 
activity level, which may delineate their boundaries.  When the weather is 
hot and/or the hive is active, the hot zone may extend throughout the hive, 
and even out the entrance into the outdoors.

Randy is looking into these questions further and may have some comments.

My experiences are covered in far more detail in my diary recently and in 
past seasons, with plenty of pictures. 

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