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Author Topic: Pollen substitute patties...  (Read 17679 times)

Offline beebiz

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Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #20 on: February 08, 2006, 04:26:55 pm »
Hey All,

Thanks so much for all of the informaiton.  I tried finding soy flour and brewers yeast at my Wal-Mart super center and all of the local grocery stores, but found none.  This morning a lady from one of the grocery stores called me and said that she had some good news for me.  She said that she was able to locate the soy flour, and now had it on the shelf.  It's $2.49 for a one pound bag.  I don't guess that will be too bad since I only have one hive to feed.  She also said that she was almost positive that she could get the brewers yeast for me too.

Steveb, thanks for the feedmill idea.  I hadn't thought about checking with them, but will certainly do so.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

Robert
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Offline Mici

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #21 on: January 21, 2007, 11:36:28 am »
rejuvinating this topic since spring is coming, well it's here but it looks like we're gonna have a little winter inbetween, anyways i just want to get my info correct and get the stuff i might need.
have quite a few questions... beeks around here like to feed bees in spring, to help 'em develope faster, but most of them feed them with syrup, and i've seen many of you opose to this. well some don't feed them syrup but stuff that is called flat cake, ingredients are only sugar and yeast, (10kg sugar+ pound of yeast) some add honey. now, my guess is that this flat cake is somewhat same as syrup, only that they can eat it without moving it to comb. now, this pollen patties are completely different thing right?, they are ment strictly for raising brood, right? i was a bit confused coz someone wrote that young bees eat it eagerly.

Offline Finsky

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #22 on: January 21, 2007, 11:45:08 am »
rejuvinating this topic since spring is coming, well it's here but it looks like we're gonna have a little winter inbetween, anyways i just want to get my info correct and get the stuff i might need.
have quite a few questions... beeks around here like to feed bees in spring, to help 'em develope faster, but most of them feed them with syrup, and i've seen many of you opose to this. well some don't feed them syrup but stuff that is called flat cake, ingredients are only sugar and yeast, (10kg sugar+ pound of yeast) some add honey. now, my guess is that this flat cake is somewhat same as syrup, only that they can eat it without moving it to comb. now, this pollen patties are completely different thing right?, they are ment strictly for raising brood, right? i was a bit confused coz someone wrote that young bees eat it eagerly.


90% of beekeepers do not know what they are talking about.  One reason is that they are old guys which learn slowly. Those bee nutritiens researches are 50 years old and they have done carefully.

Here is basics. This is not opinion issue.
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/bkCD/HBBiology/nutrition_supplements.htm

 




Offline Mici

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #23 on: January 21, 2007, 12:16:38 pm »
well finsky i know that beeks around here are quite old fashion, but doesn't feeding them syrup also help 'em develope, since they don't have to worry about gathering honey?

and again, this pollen patties are strictly for brood? would it be good to add some of those vitamin powders into the pattie. and, is it necessary i put it in dough paper, or can i put it into the feeder?

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #24 on: January 21, 2007, 12:24:08 pm »
Quote
1 part torula yeast or brewers yeast (health food or baking wholesaler)
1 part full fat Soy flour (health food or baking wholesaler)
2 parts irradiated pollen if you are rich  or work at a university!
1 or 2 (if fussy bees) parts sugar dissolved in hot water (supermarket and tap respectively


if you don't have the pollen, you just skip that part?  i had planned on pricing the buckets of pollen substitute and mixing my own that way, but if this is cheaper/easier, i'll check this out.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Mici

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #25 on: January 21, 2007, 12:33:10 pm »
it would be good if i added a teaspoon of salt huh? to prevent, what it's called here "may disease".
oh finsky, what exactly is this "radiation"? it isn't exposing to high temperature is it? can it be done at home? microwave:P?:D
please, tell again when to insert it, i think you mentioned when the snow is gone, otherwise when? what temperatures, calendar? what plants bloosom at you at the time you insert it?

Offline Finsky

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #26 on: January 21, 2007, 12:52:23 pm »
Quote
1 part torula yeast or brewers yeast (health food or baking wholesaler)
1 part full fat Soy flour (health food or baking wholesaler)
2 parts irradiated pollen if you are rich  or work at a university!
1 or 2 (if fussy bees) parts sugar dissolved in hot water (supermarket and tap respectively



Your patty must have 50% sugar. Otherwise it starts to ferment. 1-2 parts is not enough, or even 3 parts.
all stuff together + water =  same measure sugar =50%

Offline Finsky

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #27 on: January 21, 2007, 12:58:24 pm »
it would be good if i added a teaspoon of salt huh?

No salt. No formula say that.


 
Quote
what exactly is this "radiation"?

Irradiation is gamma (short period radioactive) radiation. It kills all.  Perhaps in Hungary they have such factory and sell pollen.

Quote
what plants bloosom at you at the time you insert it?

???????

I start pollen feeding so that when new bees emerge, they get fresh willow pollen. It means 3 weeks before willow sart to bloom at the beginning of May.


Offline Mici

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #28 on: January 21, 2007, 01:13:40 pm »
well, the salt is my idea, others add salt for bees to water so...it should be ok.

radiation..hummm UV lights emmit alfa don't they? should have the same effect.

i asked about blossoming so i could compare the situation, to know when i should insert it. i've read on our forum, between 10.1 and 15.2 so...i should do it ASAP, if the weather's gonna be willing.

Offline NWIN Beekeeper

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #29 on: January 22, 2007, 01:35:12 am »
Mici

My following replies may seem harsh, but they are not meant to be. I'm here to help you learn and to help you from making regrettable mistakes. Please remember these forums are an educational resource that many other people base actions that directly impact the livelihood of their hives. When you tell the group you assume this or that is OK, you're giving them a green light to go and try it.  Please try to refrain from making blind assumptions unless you have some supportive evidence (a book or your own testing) before posting an assumptive OK.

[... the salt is my idea...] [...it should be ok.]

Yeah but not natures, where do bees normally get salt during the winter, or even the spring?
If its not in nectar, and its not in pollen, I would not add it because you are likely to cause a dietry inbalance that is likely to cause illness or disease. Remember bees don't fly in colder temps, and if they don't fly they don't cleanse, if they don't cleanse, it sits in their gut and breeds, ferments, or whatever the unnecessary product does.  At the very least, excessive waste fills the gut and makes it less useful for normal waste by-products, thus causing an unhealthy circumstance. This is why you never add anything more to the receipes than you are absolutely sure the bees need and the gut will absorb.

[radiation..hummm UV lights emmit alfa don't they? should have the same effect.]

UV doesn't penatrate deep, gamma does.
Gamma has a realitively short half life so it doesn't damage as much of the nutrition in the product.
A microwave does not work on the same principles so it is not a good alternative.

[...about blossoming.. ...when i should insert it.]

If plants are in bloom they have pollen.  If there is a natural pollen source bees are substanually less likely to take up an artifical replacement, or possibly a suppliment, in place of fresh pollen.

[beeks...like to feed...in spring, ...but most of them feed them with syrup, and i've seen many of you opose to this.]

BKs are opposed to feedling light syrups in the fall as it causes excessive moisture in the hive, moisture that doesn't have the summer heat to evaporate and so it condensates in the hive wetting the bees and eventually freezing them.  Most agree that feeding light 1:1 syrups are good for simulating the start of a spring flow, especially if it provided as a very slow flow (less holes in the feed jars).

[...don't feed them syrup but stuff that is called flat cake...]

In the US we make candy boards, sugar with as little water (moisture) as possible. This serves two purposes, first its food, second it gives the bees something to combine hive condensation with and have food as a by-product.

One point you must understand is nectar flows and that condition of that nectar.  By condition I mean its thickness (ie 1:1 or 1:2 water to sugar ratios). If you feed the wrong ratios at the wrong time of the year, it is very possible to kill your bees.  Remember you are simulating a flow and survival of the hive depends on the bees accurately reacting to the flow (real or poorly simulated). 

I hope this has really expanded your understanding and I hope it serves as a strong building block for your future research and application.

-Jeff
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Offline Finsky

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #30 on: January 22, 2007, 08:02:23 am »

I thought same thing as Jeff. In internet you may find reliable information what to do. There is no reason to invent own ideas to be shoot down. It takes too much time to shoot down false information here.

There are so many from dad to boy inherited knowledge which have nothing to do with reality. That is why I have renewed my information and I try to share it to those who want it.

Offline Mici

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #31 on: January 22, 2007, 11:28:46 am »
jeff, on the contrary, thank you very much for the reply!

about the salt...everyone says, that if you have a water source for the bees, add some salt in it in the spring, to prevent "may disease", like i said before, now, the water is mostly used for the brood right? so it should have the same effect if i gave it directly into the pollen pattie. about the may sickness, i don't know exactly what it is, but from description it's close to nosema.

i know, alfa particles don't penetrate much, but hey, you take what you got, an UV light isn't hard to acuire about the beta or gamma particle source..hummm, well i just thought that if i grinded it prior, and mixed it while radiating it... please, if you have a better solution, help me, i would be more than happy. i just think that putting it into the oven would be...a very bad idea. what about the microwave? i guess it would destroy the vitamins aswell.





oh jeff, please, tell me your opinion on these patties? better than syrup? candy board even better? pros and cons?

again, thank you for the reply.



edit: just came up with this idea...X-ray machine, this should do the trick, it emmits gamma-rays
« Last Edit: January 22, 2007, 01:41:29 pm by Mici »

Offline Mici

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #32 on: January 26, 2007, 11:49:46 am »
"whole" soya flour is an item which i can't obtain, what to do?  i guess putting some butter in would be REALLY STUPID, or not? let's see what you guys have to say.

Offline Finsky

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #33 on: January 26, 2007, 12:59:34 pm »
"whole" soya flour is an item which i can't obtain, what to do?  i guess putting some butter in would be REALLY STUPID, or not? let's see what you guys have to say.

Mici, it is better to you to read those material in internet. It is impossible to answer your questions. Nutrition is very well documented in internet but it needs basic knowledge from general animal nutrition.

Offline Mici

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #34 on: January 30, 2007, 04:34:59 pm »
ok..just before i do something really stupid, and since i sence an unheard trick. why in the world doesn't the yeast start "working"? what's the trick. i mean..this has bothered me since the first day i heard patties/flat cakes are made of sugar, yeast and water... how in the world. :?

Offline Markalbob

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #35 on: January 30, 2007, 05:35:49 pm »
the patties are "dry" enough the osmotic stress is prohibitive.  Yeast does eat sugar, but if the concentration is too high, it cannot ferment because osmotic stress pulls the water from the yeast; yeast die or go dormant, but either way do not ferment

Offline TwT

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #36 on: January 30, 2007, 06:24:10 pm »
, but either way do not ferment


awwww, if you did then just cook it off between 172 and 186 degrees ;) ....... like being at grandmaws house  :-P :evil:
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

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Offline NWIN Beekeeper

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #37 on: February 14, 2007, 11:10:14 am »
[tell me your opinion on these... ]
[patties? ]

Depends on the hive, I have some that won't take up moist patties, but loved dried mix.
Made improperly, patties can be a bigger source of disease than be an aid.

[...better than syrup? ]

Different nutrition, so I can't compare.
One is sugars, the other proteins.

[...candy board even better?]

Depends on the time of the year.
For mid winter when you want hive moisture to be a minimum, the board is best.
Jars with too thick a syrup will solidify (yuck!)
Boards can be a hassle to make and fill.
I like sugar rings (tall inner covers if you will).
They are easy to fill, very dry, and the bees will dilute as necessary.
For late winter, early spring you want to start with thin syrups, feeders are the way to go.

So the long answer is, it depends on the season and what you are trying to do.

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Offline Finsky

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #38 on: February 14, 2007, 11:17:42 am »
For mid winter when you want hive moisture to be a minimum, the board is best.

No need to give anything. Let bees keep their winter rest.
 

Offline Cindi

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Re: Pollen substitute patties...
« Reply #39 on: February 15, 2007, 01:37:23 am »
In an e-mail today, our B.C. Provincial Apiculturist told me that it is good to feed a pollen patty now to the colony.  If they need it they will use it. 

BUT DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, WHATSOEVER, do anything more than put the patty on and close up the hive.  He said that no matter how much I wanted to take a peak to see how things are going, to ABSOLUTELY NOT DISTURB THE WINTER CLUSTER, they must be left alone for at least one more month, and then a thorough inspection is OK.

He was very, very strict in his advice about not disturbing the winter cluster and leaving the bees in peace.

Guess I am with you Finsky on leaving the bees in peace.  Awesome day.  Cindi
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