>I was planning to get some pollen for Spring feeding this year. Do you try to buy irradiated so that there is no disease transmitted?
It's a pro and a con. On the one hand there are bacteria in the pollen that help the bees digest it, on the other hand there could be chalkbrood spores in the pollen...
> Also, I have dry sugar on a newspaper on the hives, can I just pour some pollen on the edge of the sugar in the Spring?
If you're putting it in the hive I'd mix it with honey or syrup to make a stiff dough and roll it between waxed paper. If you're feeding it as pollen and not patties, I'd put it in an empty hive preferably on screen above a solid bottom (I just put a screened bottom board on top of a solid bottom board and put the pollen on the screen).