Bee pollen feeders provide essential protein supplements to honey bees when natural forage is scarce. They can especially come in handy during times when their natural food sources become limited.
The frame feeder resembles a picture frame, fitting snuggly into your hive without disrupting it or disrupting replenishment efforts. Easy to put into position and refill without disturbing the beehive’s balance, it limits how many bees drown due to syrup spillage.
Contents
Building
There are commercial pollen feeders designed for feeding dry pollen substitute, but you can easily make one yourself at home using basic materials found at any home improvement store. Construction should take only minutes.
Feeding bee colony pollen substitute in early Spring can help accelerate brood raising when natural protein supplies don’t meet demand, or in late summer and autumn when flowers become scarcer for bees to collect.
Tradition dictated that beekeepers would place patties directly on each hive to feed the bees; however, this method proved time consuming and often led to SHB attraction. A frame feeder provides much less labor-intensive means of feeding as it does away with having to suit up and open each hive; additionally, unlike patties which must be eaten directly off of their feeder, dry pollen substitutes stored away can be fed over a longer period.
Materials
As part of beekeeping, it is common to provide protein supplements to honey bee colonies when necessary – either due to weather conditions or rapid colony expansion that has depleted stored proteins. This supplementation allows honey bee colonies to continue functioning at an optimum level and ensure their survival in adverse circumstances.
Some beekeepers feed pollen patties inside the hive while others utilize dry pollen substitute feeders that make use easy, do not attract small hive beetles (SHB), and provide a steady source of protein.
Any leakproof container, such as a trough or pan, that can hold sugar sirup and have an open surface on which bees can stand can serve this purpose. Prior to use, boiling should be done on the syrup in order to kill microorganisms and prolong its shelf life without fermenting; this also reduces water needs for feeding purposes. This feeder should either be placed outside or inside a beekeeping shed where wild animals or insects cannot gain access.
Instructions
Traditional beekeepers fed pollen patties directly over the brood chamber of their hive; however, this method can be time consuming and attract small hive beetles (SHB). A dry pollen substitute feeder allows beekeepers to more quickly feed protein when natural sources may falter – particularly useful during early Spring when brood rearing may slow and stores may become low on stored protein levels.
Start by filling a gallon or quart-sized Zip-lock(r) style freezer bag three-quarters full of sugar syrup, making sure it reaches the center. Next, cut an opening in the top center to provide bee access and leave no more than an opening no longer than its flat surface – any longer and it could lead to spilled syrup! After installing, insert over frames of your beehive box, replace inner cover and top. This method takes much less time and energy than adding patties; requires no suit up and opening of hive top cover before installing over frames of beehive box!
Final Thoughts
Beekeepers have come to realize that bees in urban and agricultural landscapes often find it challenging to access sufficient protein-rich forage throughout the year. Supplemental feeding can help keep bees alive and healthy in late Winter or early Spring when bees begin preparing to build their cluster size and produce brood. Supplemental feeding ensures their survival. Pollen substitutes also provide a source of pollen for later use when feeding new swarms later in the season, making dry pollen substitutes increasingly popular with beekeepers over traditional patties as it allows beekeepers to control how much each colony receives and it is less appealing to small hive beetles that tend to feed on sugary proteins found in patties.
