Honey Bee Spring Feeding Foragers, Pollen Substitute that will get them going.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- Just a quick video showing that honey bee foragers are out and about even in the high 40's and low 50's in search of protein.
Ultra Bee Dry Pollen Substitute has proven to boost early spring honey bee health and encourage brood development. If some of your colonies could use a boost, I suggest giving them something to forage for during that critical time when tree pollen may not be fully available yet.
I suggest only feeding if they also have plenty of carbohydrates remaining in the hive. These bees are all fat, heavy, and well fed, with plenty of honey left on their hives. I like to encourage the numbers in spring as I'd rather have the bees consume that surplus honey than have to harvest it just before a nectar flow.
If you start pollen feeding too early for your geographical area, then you "could" cause a boost in production that can not be sustained by the honey remaining in the hive. Strong colonies will make full use of your dry sugar offerings either on paper (mountain camp method) or in rapid round feeders in a hive-top feeder shim. Above 50 f, the bees move freely through the hive and can access all resources.
If you want to offer some dry pollen substitute for your foragers, then this is the only dry pollen sub I personally use.
For 10 or fewer colonies, I've found that a 10 lb. pail of dry pollen sub is more than enough if you put it out only on good-weather days: ultra-bee amzn.to/3ttbJcA
(As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases).
Since there is plenty of honey on the hives and I can offer pollen sub for the foragers, I'm not putting pollen patties on the hives this year. You can freeze those for next year.
UPDATE: By March 28th, no more honey bees were showing any interest in the Ultra Bee Dry Pollen Sub. So I do not recommend purchasing a lot of that. If you have a small backyard apiary, just a couple of pounds should be more than enough to give them a tiny start before the real pollen arrives. Thanks for watching!
Thank You Fred, for this moving, beautiful video. You have a gift for choosing the right music, for the film sequence you are presenting. Made me a bit misty eyed watching, listening. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, and if I made you "misty eyed" bonus :)
At 16:42 you blew my bee loving socks off! glad I stuck around for that!
Connecticut viewer here! After this somewhat cold winter, it's hard to describe the feeling I get watching these bees be so active. I love them! They're always a sign of good things (and weather) to come. Can't wait for this summer. Thanks Fred :)
So lovely to see bees in slow motion! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it! Always nice to see your comments Suzanne :)
Watching your bees is a beautiful experience. Thanks for sharing.
Looks good with all those bees out and about in the sunshine. By the way. Eggboxes, without glossy stickers, can also be repurposed as really good smoker fuel. They are fairly easy to light and will not really burn but rather smoulder away slowly while producing a good amount of smoke.
Magical! The gilded bee... Love seeing those cute little saddlebags. :) Thanks so much for your wonderful videos, Fred. Blessings!
Amazing videography, Fred. Its interesting how many of them still have their proboscis out as they fly off. I love the light saber sounds of the flying bees in the first section, too!
Yes, remember that they dampen the pollen sub so it can ge groomed into packs on their legs. That's why they run their fore-limbs down the length of their proboscus.
I love this. Good info (great idea about the egg cartons!) and I was enchanted by the slow motion bees with the pretty music. I backed it up and re-watched it several times. So peaceful. I lost my bees this winter (getting more in May), and it was so beautiful to see these little bees full of life and beauty. Thank you.
I'm sorry about your bee losses, but an glad to know you're not giving up! I'm so glad you enjoyed this video :)
What a beautiful shot of the bees at the buffet!
*I never get enough watching bees. This is amazing! They are definitely in need of pollen 🙂*
Looks like Happy Bees! Hope all your Hives made it through winter.
Not all, but good enough to make a great start in 2021 :)
So happy to see you’re bees made it Fred! After seeing others’ losses (including my own) this season, it’s awesome to see them flying! Thanks for another great video!
Hi Larry! Yes, the damage reports are still coming in and it looks like this was a rough winter. Always nice to see your comments!
I like watching your bee as much as I like watching my own. :-)
Ah so lovely to see bees again. You finally feel like you are past the winter months when you see bees out and about.
Absolutely, I really enjoy these early warm days.
I just love watching these videos of the Bees gathering to feed on whatever you set out . Thanks for posting Mr Dunn 🐝🐝🐝
Glad you enjoyed it
they are so beautiful! I want to give a kiss to each and every one of them! ☺😚🐝
Great video as always, thank you Fredrick!
Glad you enjoyed it
This is one of the most beautiful videos I have ever watched 😃
Thank you! :)
Love your work! I feel very much at peace when i watch your videos! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Thank you!
Fred, I love your Yin/Yang approach ... superb information and awesome artistry. Thank you sir.
Thank you!
Sir you did any amazing job with this video. Everything is perfect. I am not a bee keeper but I respect what you bee keepers do. Such a beautiful animal to watch. I hope to see more videos such as this one from you as the seasons change. Thank you for taking the time to make this wonderful video. I really enjoyed it.
Frederick Dunn
AWESSOMEEEEEEEEE THX FOR 20 MINUTS BEES NIRVANA))
Our bees were going crazy over the pollen sub until the real stuff started and it's like a switch they stop taking the Ultra Bee. I love the egg crate idea! Thanks Fred!
Yep, it's just like an appetizer for them, when the main course shows up, I'm happy to see them ignore the pollen sub.
great camera work fred,ive got some honey lane pollen sub,but weird weather today, hail,rain ,then sun 🌞, good landing board activuty,but yet to crack the hive open,i did accidently kill sone beez in my rapud round feeder,w hive alive,guess the clear cup that covers the hole wasnt down all the way,been thinking of weighing it down,anyhow i put the dead bees in my OA mite shaker jar,w dawn ultra,just to see if any pheretic mites may dislodge from the dead bees ,and didnt see any,for what its worth, i feel im behind cracking the hives,to inspect and determine,if i need to add deeps, for expansion ,and see brood,drones,or swarm cells, thanks frederick
Just love your videos....the slow motion was stunning!
Thank you!
Thanks Fred. 12 Celsius here on Vancouver Island. Bees bringing in tons of Alder pollen. I removed the Flow Hive super and was pleased to not find any brood. Peace.
Mesmerizing... good stuff Fred!
*You answered my question on feeding Sugar water. I see many people say feed even if they have honey to stimulate brood production. I don't see a need since they have honey and pollen is been on for couple of weeks here. I rather let them as natural as possible.* Thank you Fred! Always helpful!
SW Ontario here. Thanks for the great video and all your work you do. My bees were out yesterday bring in pollen and what a sight. Loved it.
It is a great feeling to see them bringing groceries home :)
@@FrederickDunn ha - too funny. never looked at it from that point of view. groceries - thanks for the laugh, i needed that :)
Excellent observations and report, thanks
BZ
What a beautiful video and great information! Thank you!
hi Fred! ;-) great video, thank you. Watching all those bees 'riding the wind' is really cool.
Glad you enjoyed it, and that wind was pretty gusty! Thanks for stopping in Sean!
Look at them go! Busy as a BEE!
My bees are bringing in tons of pollin so proud of the girls
They are amazingly resourceful :)
some great shots could watch that all day
Thanks!
Beautifully done...what a work of art! Thank you!
Thank you, Niki! :)
Even though I havent become a beekeeper as of yet.. I really enjoy watching your videos... inspiration and you do amazing work
Awesome! Thank you!
Nice video. I saw my first dandelions today so the weather is getting nice
brilliant advise thankyou dave from uk
Absolutely Amazing videography! Wow!
Glad you liked it!
nice start to the 2021 season . . .
Thanks For The information Mr Dunn,, 🇱🇨👍🏿♥️
You're very welcome Robert!
Love this ! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Much respect
I appreciate that
Being my first year, autumn started 17 days ago and I’m trying to work out if we have a dearth. I’ve had pollen out in an upright chicken feeder but it hasn’t been touched yet. It’s surprising to me that you had all that snow around but your area looks dry already. Thanks for the video mate 🍺🍺
Hi Fred, I came across a beekeeper from Russia who cleans and sterilized his frames and equipment with boiling water and acoustic salt (sodium hydroxide). I tried his method and was able remove all wax and propolis from my flow frames. I know you have some that are retired from use, maybe you can do an experiment and see how well they can be cleaned. I'm not familiar with this salt, just that you need protective gear. This guy used proportion of half a pound of salt to 1 gallon of hot water and he submerged frames for 30 minutes. Or double the proportion for a pour over equipment. Then he rinses with water the following day I can find his video but it's in russian.
Thanks for you videos!
Yes! I have a vat that I will be using for that Sodium Hydroxide, should dissolve absolutely all propolis and wax from those Flow-Frames. Just waiting for warm weather to use that. I watched an old timer clean out his entire wax and honey processing system with that and I was very impressed. Looked brand new afterwards. I'll make a video showing the results. Thanks for sharing! For those who may be reading this response, we're just talking about Lye Crystals... been a part of soap making for a very long time.
All i can say is Thank you Fred! I love the no bs q&a. Facts and from doing. And def helps your close to my agriculture zone!New this year, girls coming end of may. Mi 6b. Super execited 🐝🐝🐝🐝 I have caught myself relistening to your q&a's just to go back and see if i missed stuff! THANK YOU AGAIN!
Wow, thank you Noel! :)
Your weather sounds exactly like mine.
This was very fun to watch. Some people I know think honey isn't vegan and that I shouldn't eat it but I think they don't know how much beekeepers care about their bees.
I did the same I gave my honey bees pollen sub they ware busy let me tell you can’t wait for next week it’s going to be 60 F
Hello, what part of NJ are you in? I am in northwest NJ and can't wait for next week and will be getting in the hives.
@@jamestownsendjrtbees3226 I’m north west too in Long Valley next week will be so nice even on Sunday :)
No way, I am in long valley as well. small world. I am on Parker Rd where in long valley are you? I don't know any other beekeepers in the area. I joined the Raritan valley Nj beekeepers club
@@jamestownsendjrtbees3226 email me I don’t really want my info on TH-cam pdzuno@gmail.com
Beautiful!
Fred here in Ohio 61 degrees light gray pollen coming in to the hive at about 15 to 20 bees a minute
Thanks Fred!
Great Idea THANK YOU
Great video!
AWESOME,👍🐝👍🐝
Happy early spring, Frederick!
Same to you!
This is my bee therapy, wonderful !!
So cool 😎
A question off topic of the video. How is disposition of your beeweaver bees?
Very gentle.. the days of Hot BeeWeaver Bees seem to be way in the past :)
@@FrederickDunn thank you for the fast reply. Was a subject of a discussion last night.I enjoy your video's
Bendisiones amigo cómo va todo con las abejas
Yes my split should be going on their flights to be made in and there's tornadoes in thunderstorms expected to come through tomorrow until tomorrow night
annnd it's training today!
Fred, One clarification request. IF we ( similar climate here in S Ontario to you ) stimulate them into brood production a bit early, are we not taking a risk that should a cold snap hit us, that the girls will not be able to cluster well enough to keep that expanded brood area at the required temperature ?
That's a great question, and this is where evaluating the hive resources is important. If my colonies were running on emergency rations, I'd not put any pollen sub out. However, since they are loaded with honey stores, it's a safe move in my opinion. The other consideration is colony size, if the cluster is too small to warm brood AND access hive resouces, it may stress them. It's definitely not something everyone should be doing. Warmer days mean that they will be moving more thoroughly through their interior stores and able to deal with a new brood load.
💕 this video. Watched it while we were having dinner. How much do you put out per day?
I think I'm currently putting out a pound a day, slightly more?
Please share the music at the end :) it is beautiful.
I bought it from Smart Sound... It's by New Dawn and the title piece is On the Road To Sanity... :)
The videography at the end was incredible. Do you mind sharing the frame rate and lens that you were using?
Hi Jason, at the end I was using 1000 fps.
@@FrederickDunn Thanks for letting me know!
How do you feel about the patties? .Just found your channel today . We have 7 hives, several swarms from last year. Feel overwhelmed from lack of knowledge. Our bees are taking dust off the chicken feed
I'd personally rather feed the foragers than the patties inside the hives, BUT, if you have a small colony, the pollen patties would probably help. My bees seem to ignore patties inside the hive, or take a little and leave the rest to spoil.
Hi Fred. Glad to say that my hive made it through winter. Yeah!!! Anyway, I put some pollen substitute out for the girls, and a few of the came and took some away; but not very many. What did happen was that the bees really flocked to my wife's bird feeder. It's mostly corn and wild bird mix. They are almost always all over it. What gives?
Exactly, what gives! The good news is that feeder dust won't hurt them, but they just won't have the best diet for their brood and it may end up in cells unused.
Lovely video. Does the pollen sub attract other less desirable insects? Specifically, I am wondering about wasps.
Waaaay too early for wasps :) and when spring does hit, the wasps will be trying to build their nests and will be seeking animal protein to feed their young brood, honey bees use plant proteins for brood rearing. You could consider the honey bee as a vegan wasp :) So, no competition at pollen sub feeders at all.
1) I know bees will ignore pollen substitute when the real stuff is available, but does the same hold true for sugar syrup (open fed) vs. real nectar?
2) In the slow motion footage, it almost looks like the bees are beating their wings in unison. Is this a real phenomenon or an artifact of the camera?
The bees have a matched frequency with their wing beats and the winds were gusting against them. Where sugar syrup is concerned, I would only offer that to startup colonies, or those put in a critical state due to extended dearth periods. They do backoff on syrup when nectar is coming in through the entrance, but will go back to the syrup if weather impacts their ability to forage.
Hello Fredrick, you mentioned the Sazcatraz bees. I know they are in your long Lang the last I remember. Did you do a review of what you thought?? Tried to find a video, I ordered two queens wanted to know your thoughts.
I will be discontinuing working with the Saskatraz line. Though they performed as fantastic honey producers, they just can't hold their own with mites. I had high hopes and may re-visit the line as they improve over the next few years. Their mite counts were among the highest I've ever encountered.
Hi Fred. You mentioned that they will forgo stored pollen for fresh stuff. Do they keep it for use or would they swap it out for new stuff?
They seem very slow at removing or cleaning out old pollen stores, I've circled pollen cells on the glass of my Observation Hive and had them leave untouched old pollen cells for an entire year. There is some thought that they also seal-up pollen that may have higher pesticide levels in it and it just goes away when frames are replaced, or come is cut out. Room for study there.
I'm in a similar weather pattern here in Buffalo it got to 54* today also. My bees were bringing back tons of pollen today. Where it is ??? but they know!
They certainly can find it!
How did your hives do ? I’m from New Jersey and I lost 7 out of 8 so I’m down to one again 😢
That is terrible news... I'm holding off on my final count as there may yet be losses... I'm glad you have one left to work with. Coming out bee-less would be really sad indeed.
So sorry. There’s something special about that one hive though. Try to hold onto those genetics 💛🖤
@@deserthives I will do my best 🥰💪🏻🐝
Hey Mr. Dunn, what are your thoughts on those apimaye plastic hives?
My thoughts are to send you to Kamon Reynolds :) He's testing them out in his experimental Apiary. I don't own any and they aren't on my list this year.
I’m a little confused Frederick Which pollen substitute do you put away with the desiccant, and which gets disposed of?
He puts out fresh Ultra Bee Sub each day... Because any left over at the end of the day is spoiled by climatic effects of wet weather etc...
I'm sure it could be saved and stirred into sugar syrup gently warmed and fed back as a pollen / candy brick or board... ???
I do this with Pollen Fondant, if it gets sticky or really gloopy. I just add it into my pan of Syrup, and make up a Sugar Brick.... To use as required. ...
TBC *
Ask Fred, I'm sure he would have an answer on this. *
I did this early last Autumn, and I got a great boost in winter bees 'brood.' Guess it's according to your locality.
My bees are in a Langstroth Horizontal Hive... Ist over wintered Beekeeper (!) And bees. So happy !!! 🥰
Happy Beekeeping 2021 !
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Sorry about that confusion, the paper egg cartons have a bad habit of absorbing moisture at night out in the bee-shed, so I put them in a tub of silica packs to keep super dry. Then the next day I add fresh pollen sub and put them back out. If there is a lot of pollen sub left on it, I dump that and get rid of it and refresh the next time I put pollen sub out. IF the egg carton gets rained on with pollen sub in it, it ALL gets composted, or disposed of in the trash.
@@FrederickDunn thank you.
Thanks Fred. Appreciate it. How far from your nearest colony, do You recommend placing pollen feeding station? Than you.
As I mentioned in this video, this station is 50 yards west of the primary apiary :)
@@FrederickDunn Hi Fred. Placed cardboard egg cartons out covered with Ultra Bee, Nothing has found them. I Only was able to place them 33 yards away. Ran out of property! Thanks.
You mentioned to start feeding 2 weeks before natural pollen comes in. so if maples start blooming in mid april, you start feeding from beginning of april?
Whenever the days are warm enough for the bees to forage is the right time. They may get a day or two and then go right back into cold or rainy weather. Every little bit helps in spring. Once real pollen starts coming on strong, they ignore the pollen sub offerings.
Ok question you collected pollen in the past will the bees not eat that or does it go bad to quickly? Also must be nice to just use a few pennies to keep your cartons from blowing away in the wind however that little trick wouldn’t work here in Oklahoma.
I don't recycle pollen from one hive to another. It's known that pollen can contain pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. I would rather they gather fresh pollen each year and we know the subs are clean.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you for that tid bit of information.
@@honeylocustlavenderfarm you're very welcome
Fab Fred
I'm not a bee keeper, we have several bird feeders as well as a sute cake feeder, they are invading everything, I even open the top of feeder so there are no intrapment. Anything I can do to help feed the bees and allow the birds back in? The invasion has only happened one day this spring.
Once natural pollen kicks in, they will stop coming to birdfeed.
I noticed that you mentioned "some leftover Saskatraz " bees. How did the long Langstroth hive do? Opinion on the Long Hive?
I'm holding off on my final opinion there, but he Saskatraz bees in that hive didn't make it, and that's a huge disappointment as they were looking so good. I plan to do an evaluation video on that one.
What do you do with your pollen feeding station when it rains? I am also supplementing with pollen patties in the hive, but not syrup. My bees have a good amount of honey. The latter part of this video had some Shawshank Redemption vibes going on 😆.
It's only placed outside and available when it's sunny and dry. They will have to seek other sources if it's raining and they fly.
Any chance you will be testing hive alive? From what I have read it looks promising, but you run such amazing tests I figured I would ask.
I do plan to evaluate Hive Alive, the weather just hasn't his that migic mark yet. I'm particularly interested in the nozema impact, but then, I first need a colony with nozema to show an impact. Even my hives with the most poon on them, don't actually have nozema when I get thier gut contents under the microscope. It has a proven track record, so I have to also weight the merit of doing my own test on that, or just using it to boost things. It's a toss up. I'm comfortable saying it's good effective stuff.
I saw an interesting thing. I have a bag of cracked corn that I left open to feed my chicken when they are out and was surprised it was full of bees. They are using the corn dust and carrying in their legs like pollen. I don’t know if that’s healthy for them or not.
Hahaha. I posted the above comment before I reached min 9: min 30s
It's not unhealthy, they just won't get much nutrution from that :)
Strange-bees with loaded orange pollen hoovering over yellow pollen sub?
It's all pollen sub. They add their own glue from the mandibular glands which makes it stick and also darkens the appearance of the pollen on their legs.
🇹🇷🇹🇷👍👌
Iam new bee keeper had 3 hive now only 1 alive. I see why new bee keepers dont last.
It is very hard on many new beekeepers when they lose their colonies. It's far more complicated than most are aware.
@@FrederickDunn ty for reply. But on a better note the flow hive survived. It might have been the weaver queen for texas that made difference.
BEES :D
I've had bees drown in that. I was afraid to use again.
I'm not sure how your bees drown in the powdered pollen sub? Could you provide a little more detail as to what happened, it may be an important lesson for others :)
Do you still use your blue pollen feeder?
It's currently parked with my other educational props. I just don't have the demand for that much pollen. The smaller fresh offerings are much more fun and I think more enticing to the bees now that they know where to get it. If I had a large apiary, I'd use that 25 lb blue feeder again for sure.
@@FrederickDunn Got it, that makes sense. Props on the action sequences of the bees, they are relaxing to watch.
What if you fed them pollen you harvested last year and froze?
Depends on how you harvested the pollen, do you mean directly from the plants, or by way of pollen traps? They won't pick up pollen balls at all once they have been shaped by foraging bees. For early nutrition, since Ultra Bee works so well, I personally don't think saving, freezing and trying to offer real pollen would be worth the effort. This Ultra Bee is only popular with my foragers for about 12 days and then they are on to better "real pollen" from the trees etc.
Fred, I have a modular long lang that I made from commercial deeps, screen bottom boards, and migratory top. Really simple and frankly I'm surprised it works, Would love to send u pics. Tell me how.
Trying to make you a swarm for your new hive
You're onto me Wade, I need to fill that Layens, and I'd like a huge spring swarm for that :)
@@FrederickDunn why buy them when you can make them.lol
@@FrederickDunn I do have a question why did you buy something that does not work with anything that you have is it just one of them man things or is there reason behind it.
Why not use a top feeder?
Not for dry pollen sub... this is best when offered to the foragers, if feeding inside the hive, I recommend the patties. I also tried to explain that foragers bringing in resources will trigger brood production better than resources offered inside the hive. Both can support brood production. If I had it inside the hive and they found resources elsewhere, the material inside would just be there unused. This way I can see and document when they stop taking the substitute. Just easier all the way around.
@@FrederickDunn thanks
how soon in the spring should you drop in a nuke in your dead hives. i only have one hive and it did not make it through the winter. but i want to get it going again but am afraid to do it to soon
Agree with Sinister Hippo, I wouldn't reuse a hive without knowing what happened to the bees.
@@FrederickDunn im not just dumping in bees i am going to start fresh just was looking for when living in upstate ny is a ok time to start.
First here