How to Process Pollen--for the Hobbyist   28feb98 <pollen>
 
1 Collect pollen from traps using two containers to
keep the cleaner pollen separate from what is not.
 
2 How often? Start once a day to determine frequency.
I do it every other day for with seven Stauffers--the best
out there for my money: I've tried and written about
over seven different trap-configurations including the
famous Ontario one, which can't measure up.
 
3 I dry it on 9 x 15-inch cookie sheets, with raised
edges.  When pinched and pellets do not stick together,
pollen is dry enough.
 
4 Empty into one gallon plastic bags and close with bread
wrap ties.
 
5 Freeze for 24 hours to kill wax moth eggs ALWAYS present.
 
6 Store in bottles: I use two- and three-pound glass
queenline jars until ready to clean.
 
7 Clean by dumping onto a 15x15-inch 18-mesh screening device
by shaking to remove dust and using twizzers to remove larger
debris not thus eliminated--cappings, propolis bits, bee-body
and flower parts.
 
8 Pour enough to cover a dinner plate and use twizzers to
pick out larger debris not sifted out.
 
9 That's it. Store until consumed or sold. I sell it from my
front door: 7 ounces in a one-pound, labeled glass queenline
honey jar for $7.00.
 
John Iannuzzi, Ph.D., 71
Pollen collector since 1982
 
PS Maryland is NOT pollen country.  Average annual take:
50 (fifty) pounds, Mar 1 - Oct 15.
 
**John Iannuzzi, Ph.D.
**38 years in apiculture
**12 hives of Italian honeybees
**At Historic Ellicott City, Maryland, 21042, U.S.A. (10 miles west of
   Baltimore, Maryland) [9772 Old Annapolis Rd - 410 730 5279]
**"Forsooth there is some good in things evil
   For bees extract sweetness from the weed" -- Bard of Avon
**Website: http://www.xmetric.com/honey
**Email: [log in to unmask] [1jan981031est]