Allen asks, regarding pollen patties fed above a brood chamber:

 

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

 

I am feeding in spring or now, in Vermont.  I make the patties out of
Bee-Pro thinned down to not-quite-as-thick-as-creamy-peanut-butter
consistency with approximately 50/50 sugar/water and just a taste of the
bees own honey.  I put a glob on a piece of wax paper.  I fold the wax paper
over the glob and shape the patty to about 3/8" thick by 4" X 4" trimming
the wax paper to size and cutting several slits in the top. The colonies are
strong.

 

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

 

I see evidence of pollen with this same color down in the brood chambers
later on, so I assume they're consuming some and moving some down.  I check
in a few days.  If the patty is completely gone, I am inclined to put in
another one.  If the patty is mostly there I feed it to my bear.

 

Jeff Hills

Dorset, VT

 

 

 


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