>>Have you guys that collect much pollen from your hives ever considered what the consequences are for the colonies when they are deprived of the pollen for longer periods? In my neck of the woods, with 3 deep nests, about 1/2 - 3/4 of the frames in the bottom deep is fully plugged up with pollen by the end of May. With strong nectar flows in June, only 1 in a 100 bees may be coming back with some pollen. You'd think they were not raising brood but it's just the opposite! Brood rearing is peaking. They simply have sufficient pollen stores. I set up my trap at the end of July. The trap collects about 40% of the pollen coming in. The bees are not deprived of pollen. Not all is taken from the bees - it's the same as taking surplus honey from the bees. Unless there's a drought situation, there is always plenty of pollen for the bees to collect around here. The only thing I wonder about is the trap's effect of nectar collection. I put the trap on my strongest colony. It seems this colony has collected less nectar than its neighbors since I put on the trap. This may be an anomaly. I don't have my hives on scales to tell for sure. My observation is based on looking at the frames in the supers. Waldemar Long Island, NY ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************