Beekeeping | Are Pollen Patties Worth It or Worthless? Ep.4 Don't Do It Wrong!

[@beek]

Be sure and check out my follow up and expanded video, "When and How to Feed Your Bees". Here's the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4GsYnxuaMd-a9U

[@Mr123Gladiator]

There are 4 Beekeepers in the USA that stand out as being the best. You Mr. Burns are one of the four. People benefit greatly from your videos etc. Keep doing what you are doing.

[@wwoutdoors7300]

I just make my own patties. Using pollen,honey, sugar. Bee pro pollen form Mann lake. The bees seem to love it.

[@loucasella5148]

I make my own patties...It's easy. Then I roll the patties thin and cut them into strips slightly smaller then the width of the frame. I place the strips in the top of the frames where there is open brood and eggs. I only feed them patties and syrup during a dearth. They much prefer pollen and nectar from flowers when they can get it.

[@noahriding5780]

It would be really fun to hear about what kinds of bee genetics strains & types you'd tried out and what your thoughts are on them.

[@paulgroth5414]

I have found that you need the bees to have full access to patty(spacer bar) to help with the hive beetles, your design has hive beetles accessing the patty where bees can't get to. I agree hive beetles can be a problem. I love your videos! Awesome ideas on feeding!

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Thank you so much! Watching the other video asap!

[@beek]

Cool

[@iandixon1937]

Very cool nosema information! My bees absolutely devoured the couple of pollen patties I gave them in the early summer. Looking forward to the next video!

[@DavidLaFerney]

Of course bees won’t take syrup if it’s below about 50 - but they will take pollen patties. They will also eat hard dry sugar if they need food - all winter long. Of course it’s better to feed up your bees before winter if possible - but emergency feed is better than letting them starve. Sometimes now that we don’t really have winters in TN anymore they go through a lot more food than normal and most of the starvation here happens in spring - when nectar is actually available, they have lots of brood to feed, but it’s too cold or wet for them to forage. And they won’t take cold syrup.

[@jerrywallace2364]

I like pollen patties for starting up a new hive with package bees and it helps expose bettles to smash them.

[@dey4588]

I added a super with 3 frames peeled off one side and laid it paper side down. Placed the inner cover as to provide space above the pad. So far so good. Also I'm new and know nothing yet.

[@CastleHives]

I use them during certain times of the year, mainly early in the year to help them brood up. Now, they’d just collect SHB.

[@roberth293]

This is a great series - wonderful idea, and well executed. Thank you.

[@beek]

Glad you are enjoying it.

[@richardwilliams7264]

Great Video Dave

[@beek]

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

[@HaselorHoney]

Thanks for sharing, great video 🐝🐝

[@beek]

Glad you liked it.

[@christopherroop4937]

👍 Worth it or Worthless videos

[@joer5627]

This time of year in Georgia, they are Small Hive Beetle magnets. I can only use the smallest of pollen patties. I did see for the first time recently someone make a very loose pollen-syrup mixture and spreading it on plastic foundation. They commented if thinly spread it will be consumed quickly. Who knows?

[@aarondlancaster]

Would love to see a video on wax management also how bees use their mandibles.

[@bgtrev]

Thanks very informative off to your next video.

[@beek]

Thank you so much!

[@genekidd931]

Hi David, I am a beginner bee keeper love your videos. I have tried the pollen patties i found that they are more trouble than they're worth, I do put sweet water at the hive at 50/50 water That Gene Kidd West Plains Missouri

[@anthonyl.goraczko6099]

Freeze the patties , then let it get a little soft and cut into strips , remove the wax paper . Put one strip on top of a in hive feeder .

[@snvm69]

Need to read a book called keeping bees with a smile

[@abedj1220]

Thanks for the info. I have a bee hive in a partially hollowed out tree. it seems like a small hive. I can see three combs and one is a max of a foot in length by several inches wide. I would like to try to offer them food. In pa it gets cold and not sure where I can put one of these patties to make it available to them. any suggestions?

[@AlleyCat-1]

When I've used them, I put a 1/2 one on the top of the deep box, but under the top board. But definitely don't like using them in the hive. Maybe set them out away from the hive. Does the small hive beetle get into the powder if it's not mixed into water? How to keep earwigs out of the hive (under the bottom screen) ?

[@curve5746]

I just put one on my hive for the first time. I usually use a carousel top feeder but the ants are relentless. So I put it on the top box under the inner cover. Seems they are struggling to find pollen right now. It has been so dry. They must have been hungry because they immediately went for it.

[@mirandap8869]

Great video but my question is about that epic shirt you are wearing! I NEED that! Where do I find one?

[@beek]

Glad you liked the shirt. The link to the Alien shirt is down in the description. Thank you.

[@rickmoore52]

I am just a hobbyist, so I confess to not knowing much. Perhaps I am lucky, but here is middle Tennessee the pollen starts early. Not it's mid-February and the bees bring in lots of pollen every day then can fly. I have never needed to feed my bees here. But also when I lived in Montana and the winter was long, I never fed my bees there and they always thrived. So I guess I don't know what I'm doing and the bees seem to take care of themselves. Or I'm lucky.

[@a3skywarrior929]

Please expand on the spores in the bee gut. I tried the patty in my first hive last year...they didn't touch it. So I already feeding with sugar water. 🐝

[@chicweber809]

where do i find the links for the products you are putting in your mix ? :)

[@beek]

Thank you. In the description below the video.

[@chicweber809]

thank you ! :)

[@beek]

You're welcome!

[@mowser4104]

Thank you for all your videos. As a new bee keeper I’m looking for all the information I can get. It would be so helpful to be able to talk to a successful bee keeper my area. We don’t have much help for new bee keepers in our area.

[@beek]

Welcome as a new beekeeper and I'm glad you are enjoying the videos!

[@reddog3551]

How much sugar water do I need to feed during dearth. I have six colonies, put out 2.5 gallons in community feeders. In one hour all of it was gone. No spillage or leakage. Do I feed more or less

[@kareneaton3395]

So David, how do you explain how nurse bees eat beebread, which is the consistency of a pollen sub patty?

[@beek]

Nurse bees do eat bee bread, honey and pollen which is within reach of the brood nest area, such as on comb with young larvae. I am NOT saying that nurse bees do not eat pollen patties, as I believe they can. And there are times when I'm sure patties are close to the consistency of bee bread, though certainly not the same ingredients.

[@kareneaton3395]

@@beek I feel that you were making such a strong point about bees eat everything through a straw (their proboscis) and to feed them liquid is "the best way" to feed bees. For their carbohydrates yes but not their protein needs IF they are in NEED of supplemental feeding as in a pollen dearth. I would hope that you discuss open feeding dry pollen sub (powder) as a better way to provide bees protein. Bringing it in, packing it into cells, and mixing it with honey/nectar into bee bread and eating it to make royal jelly. Eliminating the small hive beetle problems that patties cause.

[@fredlaedtke6425]

How do I go about ordering your protein powder

[@beek]

This is a great question for our livestream. Every Thursday night at 7pm central time, here's the link: kzbin.infoWyDOnzRy5O4

[@billbyrd9845]

How do they eat through the candy in the queen traps?

[@beek]

I made a recent video about that.

[@fredlaedtke6425]

How do you administer powder to bees protein powder

[@beek]

This is a great question for our livestream. Every Thursday night at 7pm central time, here's the link: kzbin.infoWyDOnzRy5O4

[@cc9z]

can we dissolve the pollen paddy in water and feed it to the bees

[@beek]

Sorry, no clue, but you could test it out.

[@andrewcrossen6740]

So if you say bees don't have teeth how do they chew through the wax caps and work wax combs????

[@harrybrown3660]

How do the bees put the pollen into cells if they drink it? Won’t it bet stored in the honey?

[@beek]

They do both, when they consume flower nectar there is some grains of pollen that the consume. Even though they carry most of the nectar back to the hive, some is pulled into the 2nd gut for energy and it has some pollen in it. But, they carry pollen in their back legs back to the hive and drop it into cells in the comb for future food.

[@Beek_rogers]

So, if bees eat everything through their proboscis straw, how do the nurse bees consume the bee bread that is stored?

[@beek]

I think I answered this in another comment. Bee bread is a bit more wet and fermented but they certainly do eat it, as when it is on the same frame as developing larvae. However, I've inspected many hives that had zero bee bread in the hive and yet they had tons of larvae.

[@HERBALNATUMAN1]

Does that train go by very often?

[@beek]

Two tracks, so yes, hourly and sometimes 2 at a time different directions.

[@rodney9799]

Did you do your video on a refractometer yet if it Worth it or not

[@beek]

I've had one day of filming and tomorrow is the final day of filming whether the refractometer is worth it or not. I have to get into the hives to gather samples of uncapped honey and I've had trouble working my schedule between crazy amounts of rain.

[@richmin7130]

I have had bees about a month, i put strips of pollen patties on the tops of the frames and within a week i had SHB larvae in the patties.

[@beek]

Yea, happens to me too sometimes.

[@Peter-od7op]

Iam confused you sell board with pollen patty set up.

[@beek]

Years ago I designed it to accept a pollen patty. Many people still use it for that. If you don't, it serves as a nice upper ventilation board

[@Peter-od7op]

@@beek ok ty

[@jhulin9018]

David, I have a concern of mixing the pollen in with the sugar water as it violates a basic principle I try to live by and that is "let the bees tell me what they need as they know best". There are time when they only want/need/take sugar water and not pollen. By adding the pollen in with the sugar water I am essentially forcing them to take the pollen if they want/need the sugar water. I am not sure that is good. I love the avoidance of the issues associated with pollen patties by mixing pollen in the sugar water but again the bees know what they want and I don't want to not let them dictate to me what they need and when. Interested in your thoughts on this.

[@beek]

I certainly respect and honor your approach. Keep doing what is successful for you. For me, I see it as bees NEVER eating just plain sugar water. As humans, we are not designed to drink plain sugar water. Our fruits are loaded with sugar but we also consume fiber and minerals and vitamins when we eat the fruits. Bees always consume some protein in nature when they consume honey. So I view feeding bees plain sugar water as not a good thing. Again, that's just my thoughts..which you asked for 😃

[@jaumecambra9648]

What about fatty acids or lipids in lets say proteinic syrups?

[@beek]

It would be best to only use mixtures which have been tested for bees.

[@jaumecambra9648]

@@beek Thanks!!

[@apiproductapiproduct2492]

Leucine and iso-leucine are 2 different amino acidis

[@wildnesssurvival]

Are you serious? Obviously bees can't "eat" solid food but they can always add water and make it liquid. That's how they consume solidified honey and they do the same with solid patties. And by the way, not much water is required.

[@wwoutdoors7300]

I put bee pro in my sugar water.

[@beek]

Good plan.

[@MrColtnutz]

Protein synthesis.

[@wwoutdoors7300]

It’s not hard when I do it. Just be careful.

[@wilvertperez]

Man lake should not be on business they fail with me and I’m done with them

[@BillyBobBrookTrout]

Sorry, but I can't give you a thumbs up unless you have CC in your videos. Thank you!

[@beek]

I'll check into that. Thanks.

[@beek]

Okay, my videos have Closed Caption. KZbin gives you an option to select CC

[@BillyBobBrookTrout]

@@beek Hi David, yes, most of your videos have cc but the one on pollen patties didn't give me the option. I know you're a busy man and I don't want to be annoying. I just wanted to inform you and maybe there are others with hearing impairments that are missing out as well. Thank you.