Guilfordbeekeepers.org

how do you feed the girls pollen patties? where do you put the patty? do i need to wait until it warms up?

I would not go into the hive now until it warms up. Once it is warm enough for the bees to be flying (sunny and around 50 degrees) I plan on feeding pollen patties. I plan on putting a partial patty on the frames directly above where the bees are clustering as this is most likely where any brood would be. I don't have spacers so I am going to use some soy flour on my counter and a rolling pin to flatten the patties some before I put them in the hive.

I am not going to spend more than a minute or so with the supers apart or off the hive and I am not going to pull any frames unless the temperature is more like 60.

That's my take on pollen patty feeding. If I'm about to kill my bees/step into a disaster, I'm sure someone will let me know.

i saw on one website that the guy said to put them between the hive bodies. is that better or could you just put them on top of the top hive body? i really dont want to pull apart the two hive bodies until it warms up.

Whether you have 1 or 4 hive bodies, you first have to determine where the queen is laying. You want the patties on top of the frames containing the brood. She may be in the top box or bottom box. She may even be laying in both. They will not traverse across an empty box of frames to get to the patty. It must be on top the brood frames.

You can open the hive any temp. that the bees are flying. They go by the wind chill factor more than the actual temp., so let them tell you when they have broken cluster.

>>>>I don't have spacers so I am going to use some soy flour on my counter and a rolling pin to flatten the patties some before I put them in the hive. <<<<

A cement block on the lid of the hive takes care of that problem quickly.

wally, do you keep any polen pattys to sell?

Yes, I've got about 20 left from last year. I will be getting fresh ones as soon as I use or sell the ones I have.

I use them in the spring on all my hives. Some seem to eat all of them and others seem to eat some but never the full amount (I use half patties).

I don't use spacers.

Now, a old beekeeper in Charlotte says he puts a small pan with flower in it in front of the hives.

Does anyone try this for feeding before the flow starts and honey season hits?

Never have, but if I did, it would be soy flour.

I had flower out as a test. They seemed to take some of it. Then it rained and made a mess in the plate and I did not want to lose any bees so I dropped that method.

Just curious if anyone had her or tried it.

Thanks Wally

Quote from the Solstice thread:
"For best buildup and strong hives, many keepers begin feeding both sugar water and pollen substitute shortly after Solstice. By mid Jan. at the latest, for maximum effectiveness."

I fed pollen patties my 3rd year of beekeeping and had a hard time keeping up with the swarms.
I have been feeding pollen sub for a few weeks and plan on pollen patties on a few hives in the out yard. I think I am better prepared to reduce swarming now then i was then, but we shall see.

Anybody else feeding pollen sub or patties yet or plan to start in January?

I intend to start patties mid January.

They are taking syrup now from open feeder in the yard. All four hives are working on warm days, interesting how the Italian mutts are last to work...... The local swarm caught across the road are second last and the Wayne's bees are first out every time. It must be temp, as some colder days -like 48, I dont see the Italians at all, but Wayne's are working hard.

I was going to get some brewers yeast out there next week, as a first step.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb9g9hMe9hk&sns=em

New bees flying on 31 Dec. at first was worried about robbing, but just new bees. After 10 min it was over.


Open feeding using Robs idea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsrm8llYnmM&sns=em