> The attractant so to speak is the sugar the more sugar the faster the diet
> is consume of course the more sugar in the diet the less protein. I use
> HFC as it make a pattie that can be rolled out and cut into equal portions
> for feeding.
 
Yup.  We have been using sucrose syrup and do the same.  Our trick has
been to dump in a pail or two of ordinary table sugar with each batch to
get the sugar up to 50% of the mix -- a tip I took from your writings
here.
 
We find that using some soy in the mix is good, since the mix is loose
enough to stir well in the mixer, but 'sets' a bit when dumped out and
allowed to sit for an hour or more. The dry soy slowly draws moisture from
the mix over an hour or two.  (It will also 'set up' in the mixer if you
turn it off and go for lunch).  Once 'set', it is not as sticky or runny
and sits up nicely in a mound awaiting rollin.  It then rolls out nicely
into a pancake for cutting into 3-1/2 x 10" x ~5/8" patties weighing 1 lb
each.  We use soy flour to dust the work table and on top of each 'loaf'
as we roll it out and place it into the wax paper to prevent sticking.
 
We put about 100 one-pound patties into each of the standard supers that
we use for lugging the feed around.  The supers we use are ones we have
accumulated over the years that are too long or shallow or have some such
defect and we nail a piece of 3/8 plywood on for a bottom.  At the
consistency we aim for, the patties do not settle much in the boxes,
although it is wise to only half fill the box the first day, then top it
up the next day when the bottom layer has set up a bit more.
 
We place 12 such boxes on each pallet and have 1200 lbs of feed ready to
go to the field.  Each patty is in a piece of 8"x11" waxed paper doubled
over.  We have to slit the paper several times with a hive tool when
placing them on hives so the bees will get good access and eat the mix.
 
I've placed the details on a web page and the spreadsheet we use to
calculate sugar and protein levels can be downloaded there too.
http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Misc/Pollen.htm
 
> It requires a pound or more of protein to rear a pound of hatching bees,
> so I have read so must it be true...
 
I tend to doubt this.  I have heard a pound of _pollen_ to a pound of
bees, but really don't know.
 
> For a picture of a hive on DEC.15, 1977 started with NO brood, NO honey,
> NO pollen, just a normal hive in October with normal number of bees and a
> good queen when all the frames were replaced with empty brood combs and it
> was fed all the sugar syrup it would consume and a protein diet of yeast
> products,  NO flowers at all and very little flight time, go to
> http://beenet.com/121577.jpg ...
 
Wow!  Nice bees!  What exactly was the diet used here, Andy?
 
Allen