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  • Pollen substitute

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #1930  by Alan_A
 14 Feb 2019, 16:27
Hi,
I'd like to ask about pollen substitutes, I have 2 colonies that have over wintered well (so far) and both hives still have plenty of capped honey. With the mild weather the bees are flying and bringing in pollen, I assumed there must be brood present and thought they might need a little help so last week I gave both hives 0.5kg of Candipoline, one colony has taken some but not much whereas the other colony has taken it all and now I'm not sure what to do next.
Candipoline is expensive but I'm a hobby beekeeper and not concerned about the cost and I'm happy to carry on using it but firstly I'd like to know if its actually a suitable pollen substitute or is there a better alternative and secondly do I carry on feeding it as long as the bees want it or do I run the risk of crowding out the queen?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
 #1931  by MickBBKA
 14 Feb 2019, 17:16
I use FeedBee and the bees seem to quite like it.
What I do find is if they need it they use it very quickly and if they don't they just ignore it.
So what I now do is give them a small amount and see what they do, if its all gone when I check back I put a larger amount on. I don't really see it stored in cells. I think rather than store it they just leave it alone if not required.

Cheers, Mick.
 #1933  by Alan_A
 14 Feb 2019, 19:59
Thanks Mick

As I said I've got one colony that's not really interested and another that can't seem to get enough, I've still got some Candipoline so I'll give them a bit more tomorrow and see how it goes.
 #1934  by Chrisbarlow
 14 Feb 2019, 20:14
I use bee ultra. I havent used anything else so cant comment about others. I find if fed in late Summer when the supers have come off and the winter bees are being laid, and then again early in the year (January) onwards to the end of March that my colonies and nuc overwinter with a much higher success rate.

I have been putting some on today and the girls were looking very well indeed.
 #1970  by Gerry
 17 Feb 2019, 16:11
I'm in South Yorkshire and here there is no need to feed pollen supplements or substitutes at the moment as they are bringing in loads of pollen (not sure where from though). Most yorkshiremen would not spend owt if they didn't need to!
 #1977  by NigelP
 17 Feb 2019, 22:29
Mine are bringing in no pollen and some are on pollen substitute.
Snowdrops are just out...crocus etc are weeks away.
5 miles and 300 ft lower down daffs and crocus are all out.....
We keep bees in a series of micro climates.....
 #1986  by thewoodgatherer
 18 Feb 2019, 16:56
Interesting thread this, I'm looking to expand my Apiary this year and so have tried some Candipolline Gold on two of my colonies, the larger one has taken down one pack within 48 hours even though they have had fondant on and plenty of stores left over being on brood 1/2. They are a very strong colony but I must say I'm surprised how quick they decimated it. Not sure if its the palatability they like as since the weather picked up last week they are bring in plenty of snow drop pollen.
 #2001  by Chrisbarlow
 18 Feb 2019, 20:59
thewoodgatherer wrote:
18 Feb 2019, 16:56
Interesting thread this, I'm looking to expand my Apiary this year
Ive found between good varroa control through the year and feeding autumn & spring with pollen subs, my colonies and nucs come out much stronger and making increases with lots of bees in boxes if much easier.
 #2027  by AdamD
 21 Feb 2019, 04:51
There are a lot of suppliers of pollen subs compared to a few years ago - is this something that's come from the USA and we are now thinking that we MUST use the stuff all the time?
I have the view that bees should generally have enough pollen in the hives by their own means and shouldn't need it added. And if they regularly need it, then perhaps the apiary is not in a good spot?

We do tend to concentrate on sugar/honey stores to keep the colony alive and if, on occasions they run out of pollen/protein, then the colony will stop brooding - say a rubbish April as I had in 2018. It was noted last year that the full-sized colonies were OK, however my nucs did run out of pollen - obviously they did not have a big foraging force the previous autumn to gather enough winter stores. However colonies do pick up as soon as natural forage is available.
 #2032  by MickBBKA
 21 Feb 2019, 12:28
AdamD wrote:
21 Feb 2019, 04:51
I have the view that bees should generally have enough pollen in the hives by their own means and shouldn't need it added. And if they regularly need it, then perhaps the apiary is not in a good spot?
That's fine if you are able to choose you spot. My bees are in a great location for forage but the local weather is the arbiter of wether they are able to access it or not so where you live in the country makes a huge difference also.
I can leave them to it if I just want to keep bees. If I want the chance of a decent honey crop then the only way that will happen is either we have a warm dry spring ( which has never happened in my 7 years keeping bees ) or I put pollen sub in to help build the foraging force up for the time the weather warms enough for them to gather a crop. We have about a 6 week window from May to mid June for honey. If I leave them they are only reaching colony peak at the end of May. By the 2nd week in June everything is just green fields and trees. We don't have the fabled ' Main flow ' Southern beekeepers talk about. The June gap lasts from mid June until mid April here. :(

Cheers, Mick.