What value is pollen to humans?

[thomashton]

I can understand that bees collect pollen for the protien what not, but is that why we collect it from them? What are the benefits to us as humans of collecting their pollen?

[Finman]

What are the benefits to us as humans of collecting their pollen?

Not essential because human survive without pollen. At least is generate allergy to human.

[thomashton]

What are the benefits to us as humans of collecting their pollen?

Not essential because human survive without pollen. At least is generate allergy to human.

Clearly we don't need it and I wasn't implying that we do. What I was asking was why do we collect it from them in pollen traps? It is sold encapulated as is royal jelly at health food stores and the like. Why do beekeepers collect from their hives and what benefits do pollen and royal jelly offer humans was what I am asking. Sorry if it wasn't clear before.

[Finman]

Why do beekeepers collect from their hives and what benefits do pollen and royal jelly offer humans was what I am asking. Sorry if it wasn't clear before.

I surely understood what you meant. You get answer if you put in GOOGLE the key words and you read commercial advertising. But I do not believe those at all. That is my opinion. And the fact and the aswer is, that pollen is not essential, same honey for human. Same you can say about ketshup, chokolate, apple, potato, rise. Every food stuff can be compensated with another.  Think about Eskimos? It is essential that they eat raw flesh 50 years ago. So they get vitamin C. Those who cook his flesh food, C-vitamin was destroyed.

Australia is the only continent where is not  enobled any food plant.

Now we know really much more than 100 years ago, but man has survived some million years and without pollen.

But in Finland there was a big starwation years 150 years ago, during 1866-1868. and 1886-87 . We were under Russian emperor, but empire  did not have transporting system how to deliver food for people whose crop weather destroyed.

We have thousand of lakes but we did not know how to get fish from ice capped water. During last world war Russian war prisoners teached how to jig fish from the hole in the ice 1940. http://www.enontekio.fi/suomi/galleria/pilkki.jpg

Also in Ireland it was also big starvation
http://www.the7thfire.com/Victoria/Ireland.html
"......America established itself in Ireland and commenced to destroy the potato crop. When the fungus had run its course at least 1 1/2 million, possibly as many as 2 million, Irish had died and another 1 1/2 million had emigrated."

It was famous that Finnish ate scotch pine bark flour, but later the Finnish army studied (1982) that bark is poisonous and to make bark flour it takes more energy than gives.  Also there are my age people, borned after war, and they have starved or have been allways hungry 1950th. In my childhood lack of vitamins was every day life.

" So longs as man fart, he is alive".  (Fact from German)

SORRY, You made a too good question!

[Anonymous]

Pollen and royal jelly are sold as health foods to an unwary public in order to make a buck. I personally (and a lot of studies have shown) that there is nothing miraculous about either item.
Some beekeepers get the pollen in traps from their bees in order to feed it back to their bees in early spring when there is little or none available to them during the early spring build-up of the hive population. If you feed pollen or a pollen substitue to your bees at the right time you can get the hive to build-up a quick population burst in the spring in order to take advantage of some of the early flowering plants.

[Finman]

If you feed pollen or a pollen substitue to your bees at the right time you can get the hive to build-up a quick population burst in the spring in order to take advantage of some of the early flowering plants.

I have done that about 12 years. My aim is to get dandelion honey. Quality is high. http://www.uudenmaanmaaseutuopisto.com/kasvit/1voiku21.jpg

I start feeding 3 weeks before willow blooming, and the first big group young bees are born when bees get much pollen from nature.

It takes  time over 5-6 weeks  from egg to field bee and in natural way in Finland dandelion is then over. When I start 3 weeks before, I get enough field bees (over 2 weeks old) to gather honey.  Somethimes I am lucky and mostly not.  At it's best dandelion gives 40 kg honey per hive during 2 week blossom. Last sumer I got somethinf 30 kg/hive but after that they ate most honey during bad weathers.  Also hives are really strong for early turnip ripe blossom.

I bye Estonian pollen. In Estonia level of wages are 1/7 that of Finland. The cost is US 12 $/kg. If you substitute soya flour and yeast, they are 3$/kg.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys.
This is the kind of thing I was wondering. I have never taken bee pollen before and I have worked in a health foods supermarket where people come in and buy that stuff. I mostly believe it is a big fat placebo. However, to show how it can help in early honey production, that's great. Just the thing I was looking for.