The best way to Make a Pollen Patty

The best way to make a pollen patty for a yard beehive to spice up the manufacturing of child bees and enhance the vitality of the colony within the weeks previous the Spring honey move.

I not too long ago made a pollen patty for the very first time to offer further nourishment for my yard beehive.

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Why Make a Pollen Patty?

As a brand new beekeeper, the purpose of this pollen patty is to nourish the colony within the weeks previous the Spring honey move.

The pollen patty encourages the manufacturing of child bees and progress of the hive.

I plan to separate the hive within the Spring. This extra nourishment offered by a pollen patty will facilitate this course of.

There are numerous completely different recipes for pollen patties to strive in case you are a novice beekeeper like me.

One college of thought is to depart the bees alone and never present a pollen patty in any respect.

Others recommend pollen patties which are boosted with important oils. I’ve not used this method but as I’m nonetheless within the means of researching the professionals and cons.

For now, I’m utilizing the fundamental pollen patty recipe offered by my beekeeping mentor.

That is the recipe he makes use of within the administration of the half dozen or so hives he maintains at our group vegetable farm.

Pollen Patty Recipe

The best way to make a pollen patty to nourish a yard beehive within the manufacturing of child bees and enhance colony vitality earlier than Spring honey move.

Directions

1. Combine the Bee-Professional, sugar, honey, and optionally available Apis Biologix powder with the filtered water in a bowl to type a dough ball.

3. Line a small pan (I exploit 12×8) with a equally sized sheet of wax paper or uncoated patapar paper (NOT parchment paper).

4. Pour within the pollen patty dough and unfold to roughly 1/4 inch thickness.

5. Place the pan within the freezer for no less than 4 hours (this makes removing the simplest).

6. When prepared, take away pan from the freezer and reduce a small sq. of the frozen patty together with the paper. The sq. needs to be about 1/6 of the entire pan (about 4×4 inches).

7. Place the patty face down within the beehive you’re feeding, ideally on high of current brood frames. This patty will likely be consumed inside about 2-3 days.

   In case your hive has a number of ranges, place the patty face down on the queen excluder between the first backside field and the field instantly above it.

8. In a single week, take away the paper left from the consumed patty and change it with a freshly reduce sq..

   Repeat each week for 6-7 weeks till your entire patty is gone and Spring honey move season begins!