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Thread: Pollen Substitute

  1. #1

    Default 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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  2. #2
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Ardnamurchan & Fife
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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 (!).

    140302-016.jpg

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

  3. #3
    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    Norfolk East Anglia, South Scotland
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    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" !

  4. #4
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    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.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    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

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