How to make a pollen patty for a yard beehive to enhance the manufacturing of child bees and enhance the vitality of the colony within the weeks previous the Spring honey stream.

I lately made a pollen patty for the very first time to present further nourishment for my yard beehive.

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Why Make a Pollen Patty?

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

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

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

There are a lot of 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 counsel pollen patties which can be boosted with important oils. I’ve not used this strategy but as I’m nonetheless within the means of researching the professionals and cons.

For now, I’m utilizing the essential 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

How to make a pollen patty to nourish a yard beehive within the manufacturing of child bees and enhance colony vitality earlier than Spring honey stream.

Directions

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

3. Line a small pan (I take advantage of 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/Four inch thickness.

5. Place the pan within the freezer for at the very least Four hours (this makes elimination the best).

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

7. Place the patty face down within the beehive you might be feeding, ideally on high of current brood frames. This patty can be consumed inside about 2-Three 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 substitute it with a freshly minimize sq..

   Repeat each week for 6-7 weeks till the whole patty is gone and Spring honey stream season begins!