A little bit about pollen SUBSTITUTE patties, more on the "Bee Friendly FarmingTM" initiative, and a video narrated by Santiago Wallace
“Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true”-from Billy Joel’s "Vienna"
I like the above lyrics I’ve quoted from Billy Joel’s song “Vienna”. I haves dreams like; dreams of improving our few colonies to be more mite resistant/tolerant, of having lots of honey for sale, of providing pollination for my neighbors, of placing my colonies on a couple of local farms for the purpose of improving/aiding in the pollination of their crops, and in short to be remembered for contributing something meaningful to the beekeeping community. I have other personal dreams that are not beekeeping related: for my children to be successful and productive adults, for my family to be happy and have a solid quality of life, and for me to be a better Registered Nurse…. not all of my dreams are of beekeeping only. In regards; however, to my beekeeping dreams/aspirations I do DREAM big, but I don’t expect that they will all come true. I guess that’s just a reality, I haven’t quit my day job so to speak. In this forum, my personal beekeeping blog, I can share my experiences and hope to spark some interest in those who read my posts and watch my videos. I’m not a commercial beekeeper, or even a sideline beekeeper (although maybe one day I maybe one), I’m simply a hobby beekeeper that really enjoys beekeeping, working with honey bees, and sharing my meager experiences and knowledge to the art of beekeeping.
Tonight's post is about Pollen Substitute patties. I made this video today, as promised, on pollen SUBSTITUTE patties. In this video I describe how we make pollen substitute patties, I talk about the "Bee Friendly FarmingTM" initiative, and I demonstrate how we place pollen substitute patties on our hives.
I do want to mention that their are some excellent commercially produced pollen substitute patties like: 1. MegaBee® The Tucson Bee Diet, 2. Dandant's has several of excellent products: Megabee & MEGABEE PATTY WITH HONEY B HEALTHY, and the list could go on... This post isn't meant in anyway of discouraging the use of these and other commercially prepared pollen substitute patties, but to demonstrate how one beekeeper made pollen substitute patties. I hope you enjoy the video and Happy Beekeeping!!
Santiago Wallace
Wallace Family Apiary
Side note:
I reviewed my video and found a couple of discrepancies that I want to ensure are not misinformation and lead a newbee down the wrong path.
1. In the above video I was talking about how I made my pollen substitute patties. In the course of describing that process I got tongue tied and said that a 2:1 sugar syrup ratio was two parts water to one part water….I meant to say TWO PARTS SUGAR TO ONE PART WATER….that would make a heavier syrup.
2. I wanted to actually post the recipe for the pollen substitute patties and that is below.
Recipe for the pollen substitute patties that we made
3 Parts (by weight) Soy Flour (expeller-processed soybean flower)
1 part (by weight) Brewers Yeast
1 part (by weight) Nonfat Dry Milk (Not instant milk)
Simply mix the powders together and to make the patties, bind the Dry pollen substitute with enough 2:1 sugar syrup to make a putty or dough like consistency. Place on wax paper and place on the top bars of the colonies, and give them a shim or hive body above that to give the bees plenty of room to access the pollen substitute patties.
**Disclaimer** the above recipe is not of my own design; I found it in several online sources and in the ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture. It isn’t hard to make, and can make a BIG differnce in your colonies health….although I’m sure there are othes who would debate this. Let it be known, that the best pollen patties for honey bees are derived from pollen….pollen is the best protein source for honey bees.
