We discovered some interesting things about bees and pollen sub in  trays.
I do know that bees use electrostatics to help collect pollen, and  can even
reverse the charge to send pollen to and remove pollen from a flower  (work
done long time ago in Israel).  We published on charges on bees and  uptake
of particles - beads, bacteria, etc.

As per the hovering, several years ago, I rented a greenhouse.  We  flew
bees through clouds of spores.  To feed the bees, I put dishes out  with
pollen.  To assess how much pollen each colony was using, I used  the back of a
long  knife to level the pollen off with  the top of  each dish.

Surprise, bees would investigate, but would not touch or use the  pollen.

I talked to Lance Sundberg (one of our long-term, larger beekeepers - he
brokers about 10,000 colonies for almond pollination.  Lance said something
about bees preferring piles.

We then measured out a specified amount of the sub, poured it into  the
dish, producing a mounded shape.

Bees started using the pollen, flying, hovering, then diving into it,
almost rolling around in it.  I've got video of this.

When I saw Lance at ABF that year, I thanked him for the tip.  He  laughed,
said he was surprised that it worked, since I forgot the tumble  weed.
Thinking he was joking, I challenged him - what did he mean.

He said when his crew bulk feeds pollen sub in CA, they pour out bags of it
 in pile, then find a tumble weed, and stick it upright into the pile.  The
 bees gather pollen, crawl up on the tumble weed, and then groom the sub
back  onto the  legs.

We checked this out - sure enough, bees like to climb up and groom before
flying home.

Jerry




             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html