Barry Birkey, who runs one of the truly great web sites on beekeeping, asks
"Can you please share with us why you feel every beekeeper should collect
some pollen?"

Honeybees more or less collect pollen "as they need it".  This is different
from nectar collection, where they store enormous quantities for future use.
In his great book, The Wisdom of the Hive, Tom Seeley documents that when
bees have stored a certain quantity (at the moment, I can't recall what that
quantity is) of pollen they "turn off" pollen collection (regardless of
availability) and change to nectar collection.  Tom documents how this has
been measured and duplicated by scientists.  They store about a 2-week
supply before they "turn off", or decrease levels to what is necessary to
replace daily use.  (ok, ok, they sometimes plug out with pollen, and that
is explainable, but lets not quibble.)

How the bees measure the supply of pollen in a hive is fascinating, but I
won't get into it right now.

Given that bees will not sore a six-month supply of pollen, as they will
nectar, all beekeepers should collect some pollen because:

1. At times of the year, pollen dearth's can occur.  These will result in
cessation or substantial reduction of brood rearing, and may come when
beekeepers are trying to expand the brood nest.  Feeding pollen patties is a
quick easy way to maintain brood rearing.
2. All beekeepers should have at least one nuc on standby in case something
unexpected happens to their hives.  I have seen it recommended that
beekeepers maintain a minimum of one standby nuc, or one per five hives,
whichever is more.  Many beekeepers fail when establishing nucs, and I
believe one of the primary reasons is that they fail to feed the nuc enough
pollen.  (While all the books say to give nucs at least 2 frames with honey
and pollen (or one with honey and one with pollen), when I have inspected
hobbyist nucs I almost always find that not enough pollen has been supplied.
Pollen cakes are the answer and should almost always be fed to nucs until
they start to draw and fill foundation.
3. Most of us do not have to feed honey/syrup to get bees through the
winter, as we can leave them with enough stores.  However, many hives do not
carry enough pollen through the winter, and a pollen feeding in very early
spring works wonders!  In fact, Tom Seeley feels that incoming pollen is
what triggers brood expansion in the spring, and several scientists have
documented the enormous beneficial effect of feeding spring pollen, as a
matter of course.

After some 35 years I continue to learn beekeeping, and one of the most
striking of my recent lessons has been how many commercial beekeepers
regularly feed pollen or pollen+pollen supplements.  (Allen Dick has some
great observations on this at his web site.)  Many or most commercial
beekeepers would not think of getting through a spring without feeding
pollen cakes, yet the practice has not been widely suggested to hobbyists
and sideliners.  (To be fair, Nick Calderone did recently in a Bee Culture
article.)

I now always feed nucs pollen, and I produce over 100 a year.  Last year I
also fed to some 40 colonies that I wanted to produce comb honey on, after
taking splits, and was very pleased with the results.  They produced so much
brood that taking substantial splits did not seem to slow them down for
early comb honey.

So, IMHO all beekeepers should collect pollen for feeding.  Then there is
the subject of eating and selling pollen.  Not selling pollen is leaving
money in the streets...but I am tired of typing and that will be for later.

Lloyd
Mailto:[log in to unmask]
Lloyd Spear Owner, Ross Rounds, Inc.  The finest in comb honey production.
Visit our web site at http://www.rossrounds.com.