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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #2824  by NigelP
 24 Apr 2019, 19:42
Patrick wrote:
23 Apr 2019, 22:31
By contrast, I am a sucker for trying different things at least once - and then regretted doing most of them! :lol: :lol:
Yup, but I never regret doing them. It's all part of a never ending learning curve..
Shortly about to try a couple of different pollen traps. Idea being sell it or use to make proper pollen patties for Spring. Mainly based on Randy Oliver's notes on using different pollen substitutes and nothing came close to real pollen....and also that my brood boxes can get clogged with pollen late summer and not enough freezer space to store them....so they go mouldy and get scrapped.
 #2825  by Patrick
 24 Apr 2019, 23:26
I also had issues with surplus pollen frames. One trick a mate tried was putting them in sealed bin bag in the airing cupboard. This hugely increased the natural reproduction rate of pollen mites that occur naturally on combs and they reduced all the stored pollen to dry dust that fell out of the naturally cleaned combs.

May not be for everyone but interesting experiment.

Likewise I had some super frames from the first super which had wet pollen in. I scraped them back to the foundation and fed the wax / honey / pollen mix back to the bees next spring as a cake - they loved it. If you leave it in the extracted dry supers it usually dries to hard pellets which have to be scraped off anyway. Only issue is the bees often rebuild the scraped areas with drone cells - which as Nigel observed elsewhere, they often decline to fill with honey thereafter unless the flow is very heavy. Not clear why that is tho.
 #2826  by Chrisbarlow
 25 Apr 2019, 07:31
NigelP wrote:
24 Apr 2019, 19:42
Patrick wrote:
23 Apr 2019, 22:31
Mainly based on Randy Oliver's notes on using different pollen substitutes and nothing came close to real pollen....and also that my brood boxes can get clogged with pollen late summer and not enough freezer space to store them....
The bee ultra did come close in his trials the only issue they are all supplements and I seem to remember he stated not to be used solely for more than two brood cycles. I used it from september to October's then January to March with great effect.

Have you got one of the new abelo floor pollen traps? I was looking at them yesterday and they looked very well made.
 #2828  by NigelP
 25 Apr 2019, 16:28
I have indeed. They are well made. There is a slight problem that you need to be aware of. They fit a National wooden hive fine.
However if you buy a new Abelo poly brood box then you need to shave the paint off the lip for them to fit...which is all pretty minor seeing as they aren't designed for the UK market.
The problem was something nobody had anticipated....the plastic bottom on old brood boxes seems to get slightly compressed making them an even tighter fit. I had to gouge the plastic out, right back to the white poly to get my old brood boxes to fit.
However it's now done and only required one trip to Accident and Emergency to get my finger sewn up......
I talked to Damien about this but the market is so small that getting a custom mould made (at several grand) just for the UK market is not financially viable.
 #2830  by Chrisbarlow
 25 Apr 2019, 16:58
That's interesting NP. Did you also see the plastic floors he had that are for polish hives but "kinda" fit Nationals. Now they were the beez neez
 #2835  by NigelP
 26 Apr 2019, 19:03
Yes....couldn't resist buying one.
Perfect fit for wooden National Floors....need shaving down for Plastic.
Here we go again.
 #2836  by NigelP
 26 Apr 2019, 19:05
Patrick wrote:
24 Apr 2019, 23:26
I also had issues with surplus pollen frames. One trick a mate tried was putting them in sealed bin bag in the airing cupboard. This hugely increased the natural reproduction rate of pollen mites that occur naturally on combs and they reduced all the stored pollen to dry dust that fell out of the naturally cleaned combs.

May not be for everyone but interesting experiment.
Nope will give it a try....only have three pollen traps.
 #2850  by NigelP
 29 Apr 2019, 08:46
I have several success stories and several "didn't work for me" customers.
There is little scientific research on the subject. All I can find is one study done in Finland with birch pollen where there was no statistical significant benefit.
 #3261  by Chrisbarlow
 25 May 2019, 17:38
Why do we put all the boxes pointing the same way with the frames inside. Or is it so wrong to criss cross the boxes. Is there any reason that makes the bees life easier or our beekeeping easier with the frames in each box above each other with frames aligned.
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