> None of today's queens seem to produce bees like 30-50 years ago ( mainly > before mites) and I am not sure why. Honey crops can be small with bloom > for miles in all directions. Not sure why. I wonder if it is lack of good enough pollen. With monoculture, the bees may not be getting what they need. In Australia, the beekeepers even pull hives off fantastic honeyflows sometimes, just to preserve the bees from nitrogen depletion. I had some patties on hand this summer and fed all August. I was amazed at the results. The bees ate a pound a week even during the flows. In a little under a month, I got 90 lbs gain on splits made from hives that had already been split this year. That is amazing. Granted, the weather was favourable. Sometimes we would have had a frost. I also have found that I lose a lot less bees over winter since I began supplements in the spring. Personally, I doubt that for summer supplement that it matters much which supplement you use as long as it is fresh. I only know of one highly promoted, expensive, product which is rumoured from many sources to be ineffective. At any rate, I think that nutrition may be at the root of many, if not all our complaints. I am also suprised how hard it is to get beekeepers to keep feeeding once they see even one load of pollen (or was that sawdust?). These days, we are told that bees will eat patties shoved in the entrance when they are strong and the weather is hot. (Not in cool weather, when the bees are building up). Try it on a few hives, folks. You just might find it works for you. *********************************************** 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 Access BEE-L directly at: http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L