> "Soy" flower is somewhat of a sacred cow when it comes to bee feed
> nothing bad I can say about it will go unanswered by it proponents. ("It
> must be good as so and so sells diets with it in it")
 
Now, Andy, I don't mean no disrespect, but howcum you are so sure of this?
I'm not arguing with you -- and I am really interested in the truth of this
cause it's costing me money not to know what my bees really really need,
but I wonder on exactly what experience you base this strong assertion.
 
> Without other proteins or natural pollen stored or coming into the hive
> it is of no value to honeybees.
 
Can you assure us that yeasts do work under such conditions?
 
>  The ideal protein diet would be one that could be fed as a liquid and
> that was the one that I was/am looking for. (Honeybees consume only
> liquids.)
 
> The facts are that in pollen, which is not what bees eat, one can find a
> great number of interesting things including very complex fats and
> sugars, some by themselves are toxic to bees, all great for study. I
> suspect these things are misinterpreted by many as essential elements in
> a bees diets and real work needs to be done on what the bees actually eat
> which is a mixture of dissolved proteins and sugars in solutions of
> fermented pollen proteins that may have little resemblance to the pollen
> it was made from.
 
I find this pretty fascinating, since every beekeeper "knows" that bees eat
pollen.  Many know that it is made into bee bread.  Now the exact process
is hard to see, and little described.  And as you point out they have to
suck whatever they eat up a straw, so bread may not be the best description
of what they eat.
 
I guess we can assume that the conversion process from fresh pollen can't
take too long, since the bees start brood rearing almost as soon as the
pollen is in the door -- or do they?
 
Allen