Hello Joe & All,
All beekeeping is local. I would contact your *local* commercial beekeeper
and ask his spring time table. Most will share their methods.


>Looking for an old-fashioned pollen supplement recipe for spring feeding.
>Nothing elaborate, just a simple old-fashioned recipe that works.  I never
>fed before, not sure what works.

Plenty of recipes on the net. The basis for my sub is brewers yeast (sold in
California by Pat Hietkam. )

>In my area, Black Locust and Tulip overlap, generally starting between the
>first to third week in May.

I do not know about your area but despite what some might tell you Black
Locust flow is not always dependable. I have seen hives boiling with bees
fresh off almonds in California not work the Black locust bloom. other times
the trees are buzzing with bees making surplus.

>About 50% of my colonies aren’t reaching proper strength by natural floral
>sources.

By the third week of May I would look for other issues but I know the "live
and let die" crowd hates to hear what I say. One reason those beekeepers
hate to let me go through their hives.

Old queens, mite loads and nosema loads can cause 50% to not reach proper
strength. Coming out of winter without stored pollen & honey or the opposite
"honey bound" ( not enough room for the nest to expand) can be a problem.

Ask yourself Joe if natural floral sources were not enough then why did the
other 50% reach proper strength?

> On first sign of Black Locust bloom I supered up all the colonies, giving
> the colonies that I determined to be of sufficient strength 2 supers and
> the rest 1 super. I must be getting fairly good at this assessment because
> all colonies with 2 supers filled them to capacity or near capacity, and
> the rest did not get a surplus.

I am not being hard on you Joe but your questions are right up a commercial
beekeepers alley. I would after the above ( 50% no surplus) requeen all the
hives which did not provide a surplus( or at least check for disease or mite
issues)


>The problem as I see it is that most colonies are reaching production
>strength, about two or three weeks into the major flow, and I am missing
>out on half the flow. I believe that I can double or triple productivity by
>supplemental feeding.

A "dink" ( hive with poor queen or mite or disease problems) will not
respond to supplemental feeding in the opinion of most which make a living
from bees.

A "good" hive ( free from mites, nosema with a young queen) will amaze you
in the way the hive will respond to supplemental feeding. However without
proper timing of feed the bees will swarm. I find supplemental feeding in
early spring pushes the queen to lay to her max and as long as the feed
keeps coming and  she is given room to lay she will expand the nest. It
takes careful management to control such hives

>I figure, I should have the bees up to production strength by the first
>week in May.  How early should I begin pollen supplement feeding so that
>they will reach this point at this time, and NOT too early.

 Count back 8 weeks from the main flow start and reduce each hive down to a
certain number of frames with bees and brood. Feed only enough so each hive
reaches the correct size at the end of the period and the *normal* start of
the honey flow.

Sounds easier than it is.

The simplest way is to contact a local commercial beekeeper in your area and
let the beekeeper advise you. Otherwise it may take a few years to get a
formula down.


>I would enjoy also hearing opinion on the Maple Bloom for spring build up.

Maple bloom is big for our area. Always dependable.

> but I’m not sure that the same holds true for pollen foraging.

Our big first pollen source is henbit which covers thousands of acres of row
crop land before the crops are planted. Willows are another big source along
banks of the thousands of streams in my area.

> So I feel perhaps an additional supplement for pollen might be a good
> idea, and let the bees collect natural sources of nectar which seem not to
> be hindered much by weather.

Feed carefully as feeding will put the bees in the trees faster than any
other thing.

Good luck with your bees Joe!

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison



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