Pollen Substitute

Hi everyone.

I was wondering if anyone in Scotland feeds pollen substitute ? If so when do you start putting it on?

Chris

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I've fed pollen (not substitute) a few times more as an experiment than anything else. Some colonies take it down, others singularly ignore it. I just put a tablespoonful on a piece of card balanced across the top bars of the frames. I suspect those that didn't take it down had sufficient already, and I'm not aware of colonies really being short of pollen. I probably added it mid/late February ... possibly too late (!).

Attachment 2995

Mine today were taking something bright yellow in, despite the stiff, cool breeze.

I made some 'sub*' some 10 years ago however it didn't seem to make any appreciable difference for me in that year. Last year bees stopped brooding for a while in March as the weather meant that they couldn't get out to forage, so it would have been beneficial then.

* sorry - getting a bit American - and need to pronounce it "surb" ! :)

I've tried sub and sup without measurable gains vs controls, I think my bees have ample pollen whenever they need it, nectar is in shorter supply at some point in most seasons, I'm in West Wales though.

I bought some Ultra Bee powder a couple of years ago - it was a terrible waste of money. In some colonies the bees may nibble a bit of it, but mostly they ignore it. I've added some again on the colonies and will look to see whether they welcomed it in a couple of weeks' time.
Kitta