This is an important instruction for beekeepers that are unaware of the nature of feeding bees, hows and whys and also, why nots. Well done and thumbs up!
Set out a pan of UltraBee this morning. No takers, so I brought it in this afternoon. Bees are still bringing in the natural stuff. Nucs are tearing up the pollen patties though.
Wow David I'm glad for this video. I especially need it come fall. But if we would have a dry summer it may be helpful as well. I have been wondering what to use for a pollen substitute. Thanks Brother....Rick in Pa.
Ive only been a beekeeper for a little over a month now but i havent had to feed them at all yet. I was prepared to when i first installed them but we have clover and dandelion blooming all spring/summer/fall here and they were storing natural pollen and making nectar within the first week on their own. I guess different areas are more suitable for bees naturally in comparison to others. (im in KY)
TimTheScarecrow no they are very capable on their own, but adding something like megabee will just increase efficiently. Megabeee is suppose to add 20% life expectancy also
Morning David love your videos I'm a new beekeeper learning a lot could you do a video on why not to feed sugar water when you have the Super's on thank you
My feeders are the same other than they have a clear lid on top, keeps ants and smaller bugs out, to fill you just take the top lid off. without the lid the inner cover can start to float as you fill so hold it down till the levels equilize, once you put the top lid on it also stops the inner lid from floating out of position.
David could you explain to me why you should not feed sugar water if you have a super for honey? Is that because you basically just get sugar water back, not "real" honey? Im learning, I appreciate your videos and help!!
Hi which is better to put out for them dry pollen substitute or patties? Especially for starting from packaged bees. I am a new beekeeper getting 2 packages of bees next month, one at my home the other at our river property about 30 minutes away, also should I add the tilting when I am setting up my brood boxes or do I add in winter. I live in Alabama.
What do you think of ultra bee pollen patties? I cut the patties in strips about one inch wide. They clean it up in about 10days to two weeks. On rainy days or at night they can get it inside the hive. I think the bees are healthier.
Take a 2gal bucket ,set it in a 5 gallon bucket. About 2” below the height of the 2 gallon,cut ovals like on a turkey feeder. Drill holes in bottom of the 5g bucket,set it on cinder blocks and put any poison around. Then fill the 2g about 1/2 way and put lid on. Will keep the 2g dry and plenty good to poor boy bee pollen feeding. Yes Bee pollen is needed to grow bees in the dirth.
My question as well. I heard the same. I have tons of lemongrass. I chop it up and add to my syrup. They seem to love it, but will stop if not good for them.
Can you give us a little info on the differences in hives/nuks. are some more for producing honey? and others more for making more bees? why are some so big and others so small?
what's the point of making pollen patties in stead of just putting the powder you bought in your top bar hive in a dish at the right time? newbie here.
Hi David, I have AP23 pollen substitute ,they haven't touched it when I set it out on some paper plates, even mixed it in honey to make pollen patties. I only have three hives , I don't see them bringing in pollen, maybe U have an opinion for my situation. I am in tidewater Va. thanks
Hi David, I put pollen on one side of a split top feed and found about 75 to 100 bees dead, powder only, I had put a about 5 tablespoons in. Not sure why they died, any thoughts? Thanks
Barnyard Bees thanks for heads up on that. May not be an issue here at 8200 feet in the mountains of Colorado, but definitely something I will watch out for.
Thanks Dave, I have been using the robbing box method, started doing that by accident this year never thought about it as another tool in keeping bees. Just another great idea for my beekeeping tool box.
I put out ultrabee from April 30 thru yesterday....not a bee sniffed it. Only reason I stopped was I forgot to put the lid on and it rained and ruined the UB. Up here in Central WI I guess we just don't have much of a pollen dearth except maybe VERY early spring before the Maple Trees bloom. I've been using my own HBH with lemongrass oil w/syrup for all my nucs.....never have seen a robbing issue, but they sure suck it down. One hive doesn't like it tho. They don't touch the syrup for some reason.....and they also don't seem to want to draw out comb, either. Different parts of the country, the bees just have different needs...some areas just don't go thru a dearth like down south.... now, in the same breath, I also give my bees pollen patties. Those they seem to love for my nucs. When it's raining out or colder, they mow it down. All my mini-mating nucs get a small patty also. My production hives (full size 10 frame) do not get syrup nor pollen patty except in early May. ...
The only pollen feeder I have found for sale, beside the blue one, I saw on Kelley Beekeeping. It is wooden and holds four quart jars for sugar water and has a "platform" for putting out pollen or patties. I picked one up and will put it out tomorrow for my two hives that I have at the moment. There are some "how to" videos for making a pollen feeder if you search for it on UA-cam.
Search UA-cam for the homemade one. It is for smaller Apiaries(I Have 4 hives) and keep pollen out. ua-cam.com/video/TK3OO5O3Qdk/v-deo.html I use this one
I have a problem with open feeding because of a chance of robbing, and cross bee disease contamination. Bees should be fed in their hives with patties.
Pollen seem very expensive, I have just 3 hives per bee yard. So is it really necessary for people like me? My hives are located in North Mississippi, I see my bees bring in tons of bright color pollen. I'm sure what they find so much better than anything man made. No doubt you are right, if you have tons of hives and it's a business, you should feed your bees, but how many hives can work a 3 mile area, without needing to be fed?
I live in south Alabama. How does the humidity affect the plastic pollen substitute feeder. Does moisture get in it and affect mess up the pollen substitute?
I wonder why you mow your yard so short that no flowers can grow? A flower rich meadow would go a long way towards feeding your bees, although you have so many hives in one place, that may not be true. Those round feeders are standard in the UK, BTW.
Looks to be "Hardware Cloth" and you can buy it by the roll at most home improvement stores such as Home Depot, or Lowes. At our Lowes they keep it where they keep the chicken wire/fencing. it comes in different sizes of mesh and different roll widths.
Most of my screening for my hive is aluminum window screen and I can get it by the roll from lowes hardware. lowes does not have the the #8 screen. Window screening keeps most of the hive beetles out and i belief that most of the moth are keept out of the hive also.
You said "Don't put the lemon grass in your sugarwater." How come? I've heard some people say lemon grass/tea tree/wintergreen is excellent to put in sugar water
If you would not oversaturate your area with beehives, you wouldn`t need to feed that much. 200 beehives are way to much for every area! Rule of thumb is no more than 20 hives per square mile ... And it does not matter if these hives are full size hives or nucs.
When I see these guys selling honey, I ask, if you feed a bee corn syrup, she eats it and takes it to the hive, does that make it honey? Never have got a straight answer.
Barnyard Bees Another one that just breaks me up: I asked the old boy what he did for hive beetles. He says, "well I go down to WalMart and get some Combat roach baits and put in the hive. Works great!" I did not eat that honey either.
It is what I call sugar honey. It looks like real honey color-wise. It will crystallize and get cloudy like real honey, but the sugar honey will stay kinda fluid when getting cloudy when it gets cold. The sugar honey will kinda smell like a the sugar coating of a donuts and does not really smell like honey. If it is in a jar with a lid on it , it may smell more like a brewery when first opened up.
you only need to feed so much because you have WAY too many hives in one apiary. most people never need to feed pollen substitute. also, just because they collect that substitute does't mean there is no pollen out there for them. its just easier to collect from there. but substitute is not as good as real pollen
Ultra bee is great...but it is entirely too expensive. It seems the only people making money are the manufacturers and distributors. $100 bag is disgustingly overpriced.
This is an important instruction for beekeepers that are unaware of the nature of feeding bees, hows and whys and also, why nots. Well done and thumbs up!
I love how you explain things so everyone knows what you mean...
Set out a pan of UltraBee this morning. No takers, so I brought it in this afternoon. Bees are still bringing in the natural stuff. Nucs are tearing up the pollen patties though.
this video is gold....greetings from Spain...
Wow David I'm glad for this video. I especially need it come fall. But if we would have a dry summer it may be helpful as well. I have been wondering what to use for a pollen substitute. Thanks Brother....Rick in Pa.
Ive only been a beekeeper for a little over a month now but i havent had to feed them at all yet. I was prepared to when i first installed them but we have clover and dandelion blooming all spring/summer/fall here and they were storing natural pollen and making nectar within the first week on their own. I guess different areas are more suitable for bees naturally in comparison to others. (im in KY)
TimTheScarecrow no they are very capable on their own, but adding something like megabee will just increase efficiently. Megabeee is suppose to add 20% life expectancy also
Do you have instructions on how to build your covers and your feeder boxe?
Morning David love your videos I'm a new beekeeper learning a lot could you do a video on why not to feed sugar water when you have the Super's on thank you
Idea- Can you show us how you use comfrey for bee stings? I have a comfrey plant and would love to see how you use it.
Just crush the comfrey leaf and rub on the sting.
Thank you for your time and the detail.
Great videos as usual, I need one of those NUC feeders. Thanks again
Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience 🐝🤠
great video David thanks for the info. have a blessed day !
We are building some mini-mating nuts tomorrow. Do you have any videos/prints on how you build the feeders for your mating nuts? Thanks!
My feeders are the same other than they have a clear lid on top, keeps ants and smaller bugs out, to fill you just take the top lid off. without the lid the inner cover can start to float as you fill so hold it down till the levels equilize, once you put the top lid on it also stops the inner lid from floating out of position.
David could you explain to me why you should not feed sugar water if you have a super for honey? Is that because you basically just get sugar water back, not "real" honey? Im learning, I appreciate your videos and help!!
Hi which is better to put out for them dry pollen substitute or patties? Especially for starting from packaged bees. I am a new beekeeper getting 2 packages of bees next month, one at my home the other at our river property about 30 minutes away, also should I add the tilting when I am setting up my brood boxes or do I add in winter. I live in Alabama.
What do you think of ultra bee pollen patties? I cut the patties in strips about one inch wide. They clean it up in about 10days to two weeks. On rainy days or at night they can get it inside the hive. I think the bees are healthier.
Why not put a scoop on top of frames, inside the hive? (With a spacer shim)
Thanks! Need to check my hive levels.
Thanks David. Excellent video!
Take a 2gal bucket ,set it in a 5 gallon bucket. About 2” below the height of the 2 gallon,cut ovals like on a turkey feeder. Drill holes in bottom of the 5g bucket,set it on cinder blocks and put any poison around. Then fill the 2g about 1/2 way and put lid on. Will keep the 2g dry and plenty good to poor boy bee pollen feeding. Yes Bee pollen is needed to grow bees in the dirth.
Cool video! What mesh size do you use for the entrance reducers??
fernando lappe use #8 hardware cloth
Lack-A- Penny Repair thanks!
You briefly mentioned No lemongrass oil in syrup. Can you explain why? I use it since Ive heard it stimulates them to take the syrup faster. Thanks!!
My question as well. I heard the same. I have tons of lemongrass. I chop it up and add to my syrup. They seem to love it, but will stop if not good for them.
I wish someone would answer yalls question
I used lemongrass oil in my sugar water last summer and 3 of my 4 hives got robbed out. Not sure if that was why but I'm thinking it was.
How is Pollen Substitute made? Is it farmed pollen?
It would be nice to know, but if we did Ultra bee would lose business...I've tried to find out what it is but have no luck figuring it out lol
Can you give us a little info on the differences in hives/nuks. are some more for producing honey? and others more for making more bees? why are some so big and others so small?
Big bees are drone (male bees) small bees are female cheers queen has a longer tail than the rest
does that bee pollin have a shelf life if you bought it ahead of needing to feed your bee's?
what's the point of making pollen patties in stead of just putting the powder you bought in your top bar hive in a dish at the right time? newbie here.
what about feeding dry pollen in January...wont they start to lay brood??
Hi David, I have AP23 pollen substitute ,they haven't touched it when I set it out on some paper plates, even mixed it in honey to make pollen patties. I only have three hives , I don't see them bringing in pollen, maybe U have an opinion for my situation. I am in tidewater Va. thanks
Hi David, I put pollen on one side of a split top feed and found about 75 to 100 bees dead, powder only, I had put a about 5 tablespoons in. Not sure why they died, any thoughts? Thanks
Do you close some of those vent holes and partially close the entrance come winter?
Are pollen patties in the hive, or dry pollen outside the hive, a better choice?
Barnyard Bees thanks for heads up on that. May not be an issue here at 8200 feet in the mountains of Colorado, but definitely something I will watch out for.
Is this preventing the bees to polenate some flowers?
David, how do you get them to draw out wax on foundation with them not filling it with the sugar water?
Thanks Dave, I have been using the robbing box method, started doing that by accident this year never thought about it as another tool in keeping bees. Just another great idea for my beekeeping tool box.
David, do you still open feed when you use the rapid feeder?
How about the screen wire on a 10 frame hive ?
I put out ultrabee from April 30 thru yesterday....not a bee sniffed it. Only reason I stopped was I forgot to put the lid on and it rained and ruined the UB.
Up here in Central WI I guess we just don't have much of a pollen dearth except maybe VERY early spring before the Maple Trees bloom.
I've been using my own HBH with lemongrass oil w/syrup for all my nucs.....never have seen a robbing issue, but they sure suck it down. One hive doesn't like it tho. They don't touch the syrup for some reason.....and they also don't seem to want to draw out comb, either.
Different parts of the country, the bees just have different needs...some areas just don't go thru a dearth like down south....
now, in the same breath, I also give my bees pollen patties. Those they seem to love for my nucs. When it's raining out or colder, they mow it down. All my mini-mating nucs get a small patty also.
My production hives (full size 10 frame) do not get syrup nor pollen patty except in early May. ...
Kevin McMahon
Try the patties...
I got my bees on April 30th this year and I using a frame feeder and my ? is do I take it out or do I leave it in?
Barnyard Bees ok
How long does it take you to tend all those hives?
Do you tend all those hives by yourself or do you have help?
Grounded guess to long to respond to his viewers
What is a good pollen feeder system if you have one hive? Without getting the big blue one y’all offer.
The only pollen feeder I have found for sale, beside the blue one, I saw on Kelley Beekeeping. It is wooden and holds four quart jars for sugar water and has a "platform" for putting out pollen or patties. I picked one up and will put it out tomorrow for my two hives that I have at the moment. There are some "how to" videos for making a pollen feeder if you search for it on UA-cam.
Search UA-cam for the homemade one. It is for smaller Apiaries(I Have 4 hives) and keep pollen out. ua-cam.com/video/TK3OO5O3Qdk/v-deo.html I use this one
I have a problem with open feeding because of a chance of robbing, and cross bee disease contamination. Bees should be fed in their hives with patties.
I've used the pollen feed and my bees drowned in it. Am I supposed to mix with something?
Pollen seem very expensive, I have just 3 hives per bee yard. So is it really necessary for people like me? My hives are located in North Mississippi, I see my bees bring in tons of bright color pollen. I'm sure what they find so much better than anything man made. No doubt you are right, if you have tons of hives and it's a business, you should feed your bees, but how many hives can work a 3 mile area, without needing to be fed?
Just to let you know, pollen isn't man-made.
It's collected from hives that have a thieving catch on the bottom.
When can we buy bee's?
I live in south Alabama. How does the humidity affect the plastic pollen substitute feeder. Does moisture get in it and affect mess up the pollen substitute?
Why should I not use lemongrass in sugar water?
Lemongrass oil is extremely attractive to bees and can cause robbing
Great lnfo ..thank you
I wonder why you mow your yard so short that no flowers can grow? A flower rich meadow would go a long way towards feeding your bees, although you have so many hives in one place, that may not be true. Those round feeders are standard in the UK, BTW.
what type would that screen be, like where would i get it? i really like that for the front entrances.
Looks to be "Hardware Cloth" and you can buy it by the roll at most home improvement stores such as Home Depot, or Lowes. At our Lowes they keep it where they keep the chicken wire/fencing. it comes in different sizes of mesh and different roll widths.
#8 hardware cloth buy it off amazon. I use window screening instead because I have a bad fire ant problem in my area.
Most of my screening for my hive is aluminum window screen and I can get it by the roll from lowes hardware. lowes does not have the the #8 screen.
Window screening keeps most of the hive beetles out and i belief that most of the moth are keept out of the hive also.
Thanks !!
I've been watching Joe May and he claims that 1:1 bees tend to consume and use rather than stores.
Is there a smaller pollen feeder available ?
*I just use a bucket. :)*
You said "Don't put the lemon grass in your sugarwater." How come? I've heard some people say lemon grass/tea tree/wintergreen is excellent to put in sugar water
If you would not oversaturate your area with beehives, you wouldn`t need to feed that much. 200 beehives are way to much for every area! Rule of thumb is no more than 20 hives per square mile ... And it does not matter if these hives are full size hives or nucs.
When I see these guys selling honey, I ask, if you feed a bee corn syrup, she eats it and takes it to the hive, does that make it honey? Never have got a straight answer.
Barnyard Bees Another one that just breaks me up: I asked the old boy what he did for hive beetles. He says, "well I go down to WalMart and get some Combat roach baits and put in the hive. Works great!" I did not eat that honey either.
It is what I call sugar honey. It looks like real honey color-wise. It will crystallize and get cloudy like real honey, but the sugar honey will stay kinda fluid when getting cloudy when it gets cold. The sugar honey will kinda smell like a the sugar coating of a donuts and does not really smell like honey.
If it is in a jar with a lid on it , it may smell more like a brewery when first opened up.
you only need to feed so much because you have WAY too many hives in one apiary. most people never need to feed pollen substitute. also, just because they collect that substitute does't mean there is no pollen out there for them. its just easier to collect from there. but substitute is not as good as real pollen
Ultra bee is great...but it is entirely too expensive. It seems the only people making money are the manufacturers and distributors. $100 bag is disgustingly overpriced.