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Author Topic: First Pollen Collection  (Read 2632 times)

Offline blanc

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First Pollen Collection
« on: February 14, 2013, 06:11:52 pm »



Placed a pollen trap on one of my hives a few days ago and collected 1 table spoon of pollen. The girls are a bit confused with the top entrance pollen trap we bought but they are coming around. It sure taste good fresh out the hive rather than buying it elsewhere. I am figuring harvesting it once a week and the girls a packing the pollen in pretty good right now.
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline Vance G

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2013, 08:25:37 pm »
I once collected a lot of pollen and I only say, that there is indeed no such thing as a free lunch.  The bees will have to recruit more bees to gather and replace the volume of pollen you are diverting.  All field bees will suffer extra wear and tear on wings that only last a few weeks anyway.  If pollen is in short supply it could but probably won't affect brood rearing.  It is good to rest the hive collecting regularly.  Switch to a different colony every week or open and close the trap on a short regular schedule.

 I run traps myself so I can have some to feed in the spring and six ounces to add to every batch of mead I make.  I used to eat it, but I am an old man and I do not want to spend the required amount of time geting that taste out of my mouth anymore.  I just don't have it!  I may drink more mead though to ensure I am getting enough. 

Offline JP

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2013, 10:36:12 pm »
Blanc, to keep it fresh place the pollen in a sealed jar in the freezer. I keep mine in the freezer and it keeps very well.


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Offline 10framer

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2013, 12:16:36 am »
I once collected a lot of pollen and I only say, that there is indeed no such thing as a free lunch.  The bees will have to recruit more bees to gather and replace the volume of pollen you are diverting.  All field bees will suffer extra wear and tear on wings that only last a few weeks anyway.  If pollen is in short supply it could but probably won't affect brood rearing.  It is good to rest the hive collecting regularly.  Switch to a different colony every week or open and close the trap on a short regular schedule.

 I run traps myself so I can have some to feed in the spring and six ounces to add to every batch of mead I make.  I used to eat it, but I am an old man and I do not want to spend the required amount of time geting that taste out of my mouth anymore.  I just don't have it!  I may drink more mead though to ensure I am getting enough. 

i used to open the bottom entrance back up after a couple of days to let the bees come through there and the trap to take some of the strain off of the colony.  after a week or so i'd close the trap off and let them build up for a while.  we used to get pollen later in the summer after the major honey flows were over.  we kept it in ziplock bags in the freezer.

Offline blanc

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2013, 09:17:53 am »
I once collected a lot of pollen and I only say, that there is indeed no such thing as a free lunch.  The bees will have to recruit more bees to gather and replace the volume of pollen you are diverting.  All field bees will suffer extra wear and tear on wings that only last a few weeks anyway.  If pollen is in short supply it could but probably won't affect brood rearing.  It is good to rest the hive collecting regularly.  Switch to a different colony every week or open and close the trap on a short regular schedule.

 I run traps myself so I can have some to feed in the spring and six ounces to add to every batch of mead I make.  I used to eat it, but I am an old man and I do not want to spend the required amount of time geting that taste out of my mouth anymore.  I just don't have it!  I may drink more mead though to ensure I am getting enough. 

 Thanks for the advice Vance and intend on moving the traps around a bit.
Blanc
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline blanc

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2013, 09:20:13 am »
Blanc, to keep it fresh place the pollen in a sealed jar in the freezer. I keep mine in the freezer and it keeps very well.


...JP

Thanks for the tip on freezing it JP. Set up some propolis traps on a couple hives too. After using it to put on sore and cuts and watching how fast it heals I am a firm believer of how good that stuff those girls make.
Blanc
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline blanc

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2013, 09:22:07 am »
I once collected a lot of pollen and I only say, that there is indeed no such thing as a free lunch.  The bees will have to recruit more bees to gather and replace the volume of pollen you are diverting.  All field bees will suffer extra wear and tear on wings that only last a few weeks anyway.  If pollen is in short supply it could but probably won't affect brood rearing.  It is good to rest the hive collecting regularly.  Switch to a different colony every week or open and close the trap on a short regular schedule.

 I run traps myself so I can have some to feed in the spring and six ounces to add to every batch of mead I make.  I used to eat it, but I am an old man and I do not want to spend the required amount of time geting that taste out of my mouth anymore.  I just don't have it!  I may drink more mead though to ensure I am getting enough. 

i used to open the bottom entrance back up after a couple of days to let the bees come through there and the trap to take some of the strain off of the colony.  after a week or so i'd close the trap off and let them build up for a while.  we used to get pollen later in the summer after the major honey flows were over.  we kept it in ziplock bags in the freezer.
Sounds like good advice and thanks for the tips 10!
Blanc
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moots

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2013, 09:40:33 am »
I have no experience with pollen traps, but it was a big topic at our local bee meeting the other night.  One of the guys who has quite a bit of experience with it, enough to actually sell pollen, said it's important to empty the traps daily because it's quite susceptible to molding if you leave it out.

Offline blanc

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2013, 10:16:14 am »



Placed a pollen trap on one of my hives a few days ago and collected 1 table spoon of pollen. The girls are a bit confused with the top entrance pollen trap we bought but they are coming around. It sure taste good fresh out the hive rather than buying it elsewhere. I am figuring harvesting it once a week and the girls a packing the pollen in pretty good right now.





Used my hand to show the size of the pan I collected the pollen with and that was just a three day collection. It has been a week so far and collected twice that amount and opened up the hive again to get the girls bringing back in full amounts. What I read was that if you leave it on they would begin to bring in smaller amounts to get through the screens better and was a good idea to remove it on and off to have better collections. This is a pretty strong hive and was shocked at the amount I collected. Any comments on your experiences appreciated.
Blanc
« Last Edit: February 23, 2013, 12:41:03 pm by blanc »
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline JP

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2013, 12:13:59 pm »
Hey Mike, don't eat the gray stuff that looks like pollen, its fertilizer!






















Nah, just kidding!  :-D


Store bought pollen in a bag or off of some shelf just doesn't compare to fresh pollen. No comparison!

Have fun with it!


...JP
My Youtube page is titled JPthebeeman with hundreds of educational & entertaining videos.

My website JPthebeeman.com http://jpthebeeman.com

Offline edward

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2013, 06:10:28 pm »
It is a good thing to freeze the pollen for a while as it kills of undesirable things/debris in the pollen.

mvh edward  :-P

Offline hardwood

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2013, 06:21:11 pm »
Freeze it as soon as you can after cleaning. The pollen degrades very rapidly (some compounds within hours). Dried pollen really doesn't preserve the pollen adequately but freeze drying is probably the best way to preserve it.

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

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Offline edward

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Re: First Pollen Collection
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2013, 06:26:58 pm »
Or freeze it before cleaning and dry it later and clean it at your convenience, this is the way they do it industrially in Spain and France.

mvh edward  :-P