Supplemental feeding is a perennial topic on BEE-L.  The topic is covered extensively on Allen Dick's web page at http://honeybeeworld.com/misc/pollen/default.htm

There was also a lot of discussion on the topic at the recent joint meeting in Sacramento, and mention was made of the good, the bad, and the ugly bee feed formulas out there.  Ingredients ranged from soy, to dried milk, to even fish meal, representing again, the good, the bad and the ugly.  I have not checked my notes, but my recollection is that milk protein was on the bad to ugly end of the scale.

There was a very good comparison of different bee diets presented by the Tucson Bee Lab, which has a vested interest in one particular diet, but again as I posted a few weeks ago, the favorable data presented for the Tucson Bee Diet was claimed to be unbiased and had the data been unfavorable, the unfavorable data would also have been presented.  There was even data presented about a home-grown diet formulated by the very same Mr. X who was mentioned the other day on BEE-L., one of the ingredients being eggs.  The data pertaining to the X-Diet was not very favorable, yet more than a few beekeepers are experimenting with the X-Diet based on, "If it's good for X it's good for me!"

My point is there are many home recipes out there, many more than commercially available recipes.  But when there are so many good (and convenient!) commercial formulations out there (BeePro, Global Patties, MegaBee, FeedBee to mention a few, endorsing or recommending none) the wisdom of using home grown recipes is questionable.  Granted, the home-grown recipes might cost less, but it's likely to be a case of penny wise and pound foolish.

Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!


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