Pollen available?

[Silvbee]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any frozen pollen available in the Edinburgh area? I wouldn't be looking for much 50-100g would be more than enough.

Cheers in advance

[marion.orca]

This maybe a daft question [ and I've never heard of frozen pollen before - nor would I use it ] but what do you want it for ?

[The Drone Ranger]

Don't think you can buy frozen pollen.
Ron Brown recommended collecting some surplus in the Summer and just freezing it till the following Spring in his book
I believe Ron discovered the first Varroa mite in the UK (passed on now sadly)

[Silvbee]

That's what I'd be looking for. I assumed someone on here would have some pollen in the freezer gathered last year to make spring supplements.

[marion.orca]

Thornes do Nektapoll as a pollen supplement - I currently have it on one of my hives which I think is in need of a boost. It is not expensive, but needs to be used directly on top of the frames with an eke - you can make an eke easily enough to cut down on further expense.

[The Drone Ranger]

Haven't tried nektapoll it might be the answer
The Pollen substitute I tried some years ago was just messy and pretty useless

Depending where your bees are pollen is usually available early, long before nectar, so the bees can find it as soon as brood rearing gets going .

Somebody might have some frozen
Again Ron Brown used to supply health food shops with his special honey which had added pollen,
He saw it as a premium price product and I seem to remember Ian Craig said something similar in SBA mag(might be wrong there)

I wouldn't add something to my hive that came from some0ne else's hive though

[Trog]

BeesintheZoo, are you the person in charge of the apiary at Edinburgh zoo by any chance? Daughter and I made a point of looking for them when we visited on 2 March. They were flying well that day - it was gloriously sunny and warm!

[gavin]

I'd wondered that. If so, there can hardly be a better place in Scotland for bees to go out and scour suburbia and parkland on S-facing slopes to find pollen at this time of year. Once the sun comes out (it is doing so now!) and it warms a little they'll be out to find some fresh stuff.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Trog]

We said hello to one bee working some of the lovely plantings at the zoo.

[Silvbee]

Haha Ive been found out I wonder if it was my cryptic name that gave it away...

Yep the zoo seems to be a really good site and theres generally something for them to forage near by. The pollen isnt for them its actually for bumble bees. I was successful a couple of years ago getting a queen to settle in a nest box Id created and I was thinking of trying again this year. The only thing I dont have is any pollen, I wonder if nektapoll would do the job.

[Jon]

I use nektapoll sometimes and the bees seem to love it but the pollen content is actually very low. I think it is only a few percent.

[Silvbee]

Hmm I thought as much. I'm surprised nobody has a pollen trap and a big stash of pollen in the freezer for use in the spring. I've thought about harvesting a bit of pollen for a couple of years, I guess I'll have to get onto it now.

[drumgerry]

I've never trapped pollen mainly because I don't see the need. There's no shortage of pollen available to the bees in a normal Spring (still hoping this one turns into one of those!) and I'm not trying to accelerate my colonies buildup for OSR. Not sure I'd be looking to buy any from other beekeepers as well. That's in the same league as giving honey to your bees from outwith your own apiary ie a disease risk

[fatshark]

Saxonbee have it ... 3kg for 108 australian dollars (http://www.saxonbee.com.au/pollen-supplies.htm) ... but the postage is crippling ;-)

[drumgerry]

I wouldn't let any of that near my bees!:eek:

[Silvbee]

I've never trapped pollen mainly because I don't see the need. There's no shortage of pollen available to the bees in a normal Spring (still hoping this one turns into one of those!) and I'm not trying to accelerate my colonies buildup for OSR. Not sure I'd be looking to buy any from other beekeepers as well. That's in the same league as giving honey to your bees from outwith your own apiary ie a disease risk

Its not for my bees though its for bumble bee rearing.

[Poly Hive]

I used to obtain pollen that was irradiated from a Bee Farmer that I know well, but he no longer gets it and for that matter no longer uses pollen patties as he says that over some 15 years now the not feeding of it as far as he can tell makes no odds to the performance in Spring, so I no longer bother either esp as I cannot source the pollen myself. It was ex Spain as I recall.

PH

[drumgerry]

Its not for my bees though its for bumble bee rearing.

Sorry I re-read the thread and saw that. Must have missed it the first time round!