> Did you ever find that consumption of your pollen substitute increased?  I
> think that without real pollen mixed in the bees need something to help get
> them going.
 
I found that some that I made without pollen is still on the hives a
month latrer and does not appear to be consumed much at all.  The bees are
now consuming the patties that include pollen as about 5% of the dry
portion of the mix.
 
I meant to mention that the day after I mentioned that the unwrapped bees
had consumed more than the wrapped ones, I came across a yard that had
consumed whole patties, and was still wrapped.
 
> I find that a few drops of fennel oil works very well.
 
Do you still need pollen in the mix, then?
 
> I also usually find that if they are bringing in dry pollen substitute
> powder that they will accept the patties better.
 
Hmmm.  We are now putting out the dry soy flour, and it is a real hit --
both with the bees and with the neighbours who were finding bees in their
animal feed troughs.  I don't know how to measure the effect of dry
feeding on patty consumption - unless it is a huge change (Is it?), but it
does seem logical.
 
> This year spring was so delayed that I had to feed the patties first.
> We have just had our first flying days now.
 
I've been reluctant yto put out dry, since we have seen what appears to be
pollen for weeks, now.  But maybe it isn't since the bees are going nuts
over the soy.
 
> I have a barrel of syrup out and pollen substitute powder beside it.  There
> were more bees today in the powder than taking syrup.
 
I noticed the exact same thing.  It can be hard to train bees to take
syrup from open feeders in spring.  Some yards suck down several drums,
and others hardly touch it.
 
> >When can I quit giving them patties?  Do I just put them on til the bees
> >refuse to eat them (seems wasteful)?  Or will they eat it from time to
> >time right thru the spring if I leave it on?
>
> I always find (and this year so far is no exception) that the weaker hives
> do not use the patties well.  Sometimes I switch them to the stronger ones.
 
It seems that the weak hives are much less inclined to eat it.  I notticed
many hives this year with eggs but no brood right up to two weeks ago.
Pollen shortage?  They did not seem to be eating the supplement either.
 
> Once natural pollen is available none of the hives will touch the patties,
> even if there is poor flying weather.  This year the first pollen is going
> to be VERY late.
 
What about the fall?  We have *some* pollen into October, even after
frosts.  I had hoped to try supplement in September.
 
> There IS waste at the end, but I haven't figured out any use for it, and you
> might as well get it out of the hive because once the wax paper is chewed it
> goes like cement and is a nuisance to scrape.
>
> Despite the waste I am firmly convinced it is a great boost for them and
> seeing them prefer it to syrup today confirms this for me.  I would only
> feed it dry if we could be more sure of flying weather but we don't seem to
> be getting much of that.
 
We place the soy in the bottom end of drums that are laid on their sides.
This forms a wind and rain shelter.
 
> The meat grinder made an excellent smooth paste and there has been nothing
> left at all on the stronger hives that are really going at their patties.
 
Yup.  We used a cement mixer, and dissolved the pollen component first
(Boy! There is a sure a lot of junk even in *clean* pollen - we used
frozen pollen that we hand picked over, since we had such terrible
chalkbrood last time we tried feed grade pollen).
 
Thanks for the tips.
 
Allen