Floor pollen trap plans

[Mellifera Crofter]

Does anybody have plans for floor pollen traps, please? I suppose I can figure out a solution, but a plan will help.

The entrance-fitting Fairweather traps do not fit National polystyrene hives.

Kitta

[Jon]

I have 3 of those fairweather traps that I need to fit shortly as part of the CSI pollen survey.
Anyone got any experience of using them?
Luckily there are no polyhives at the association apiary.

[gavin]

I once had a couple of Sundance traps obtained from the States via Thorne for some research we were doing. Donated them to an Aberdeenshire beekeeper helping us! Lovely well-made devices. I think it would be important to use a water-resistant timber like Western Red Cedar.

Michael Bush posted links to useful places on Beesource including this plan for a floor pollen trap.

http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~vista/html_pubs/BEEKEEP/CHAPT2/2-20.gif

[gavin]

Anyone got any experience of using them?


Hazy memories. The bees didn't like them and found cracks to get round them whenever they could. Once you get used to them they do work.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thank you, Gavin. I'll study the plan. I've been thinking of a vertical pollen stripper like the one in the Thorne's catalogue, but a flat one like on the plan might be easier to make.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I have 3 of those fairweather traps ...
Anyone got any experience of using them?
...

Deleted. Sorry, I misunderstood your question, Jon.

[gavin]

I see (after screwing my eyes up :)) that the plan suggests exterior ply. Fair enough, but be aware that it will get damp if left out for long. The one I had was made from WRC and also had a drawer to catch the pollen which had hardware cloth/fine mesh as its floor to keep the samples airy. You have to empty them daily and dry or freeze the pollen while it is fresh. The floor trap gave us bigger yields and didn't have the same issues of bees avoiding it or - usually - rain spoiling samples that we had with the side-mounted traps.

Haven't looked at the Thorne one.

Oh yes, and you get some extraneous matter (incld bee legs!) dropping through into the floor trap which may be why Dadant now sell a top mounted trap (for hives with top entrances of course).

[drumgerry]

Jon - they are a fiddle to get working. The bees prefer not to squeeze themselves through the mesh so you have to make sure the vertical mesh is flush with the floor mesh (on the trap) if you know what I mean. I ended up having to put wedges under the collection tray to push the trap floor mesh up enough for there to be no gap between them. I also sawed off the tongue designed for cold way Nat brood boxes as I run polys and cedar boxes warm way (I like to inspect from behind...ahem!). To make everything work required the said wedges and liberal use of duct tape. Oh and give them a coat (or probably three) of paint as the ply is pretty crappy and even though I painted the tops of the ones I had on loan (sorry SASA!) the ply split after a period exposed to the elements.

Edit - I should say that I left them attached all summer with the sliding mesh in or out depending on whether I was trapping pollen or not. Too much hassle to dis-attach every time between pollen trapping periods.

Edit 2 - Kitta they can be made to fit polys and warm way BBs but it is a pain in the a**. Involves sawing off the tongue thing and using duct tape to secure them as well as the two wee hook things they come with. The design is not the greatest it must be said

[Jon]

Thanks Gerry.I have to fit these to 3 colonies by Saturday morning at the latest.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thanks for the advice, Gavin.

Drumgerry, I think it will be a greater struggle to make those traps fit my poly hives than making my own! Well, I'll try to make them.
Kitta

[Poly Hive]

Some advice here: http://poly-hive.co.uk/recourses/beginner-resources/general-management/pollen-trapping/

When trapping though best to only do it for a week or so to ensure the colony is getting enough pollen in for their needs.

PH

[Jon]

A week would be far too long at this time of year. The CSI pollen project is looking for samples over a 3 day period.
You only need to collect what will fit in a honey jar lid from each hive sampled.

Another issue with the Thorne fairweather trap is that as Gerry says you have to have the hive set up cold way so that the trap fits into the panel recess.
An alternative would be to saw off the lug of the trap and keep the colony warm way.
They are made from very thin ply.

[brothermoo]

Most people have open mesh floors so cold and warm are surely a non issue now? Was tempted by Thorne trap but only from an academic point of view.. no real need to store it in my current plans for this year.

[brothermoo]

And i know... dont call you Shirley!

[drumgerry]

I don't have them warm way for any particular reason other than it makes it easier to inspect them from behind rather than side on. Just the way I like to work. And accordingly the fairweather traps as supplied by Thornes need some finagling to fit.

[Jon]

Moo. Cold way warm way is a total non issue under normal circumstances except that the pollen traps are manufactured in a way that they will only fit into the recess of the hive side panel if you have it set up cold way. It's to do with the shape of the national boxes made by Thorne.

2226

[prakel]

Most people have open mesh floors so cold and warm are surely a non issue now?

I know a person who uses the warm way to set up the possibility of pulling an extra comb or two of honey when the supers come off -but it's a little more complicated than that and involves making sure that those back combs are relatively new, not holding lots of pollen or old honey from the tail end of the previous year.

[brothermoo]

Ah I get you Jon ...my lack of experience with nationals!

[Jon]

Ah I get you Jon ...my lack of experience with nationals!

Rose Hive OSB renegade!

[drumgerry]

Did you ever find a decent plan for a floor pollen trap Kitta? Thinking it might be a productive DIY project for me. Not going to use those Fairweather things again - complete PITA.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Oops - all my good intentions ... No, Drumgerry - I withdrew from the CSI project and returned the Fairweather trap. (I've built many in my head though.) If you can figure one out, please let me know.
Kitta

[drumgerry]

Will do Kitta. Strangely there seems to be a scarcity of decent instructions on the web. If anyone has decent pics of an OAC trap or the like I'd be most grateful

[drumgerry]

Ok so the OAC trap dpesn't look like a difficult build if I can find the right sized mesh. I will report back....

Plans for it are here......http://www.ontariobee.com/sites/ontariobee.com/files/document/construction.pdf

[gavin]

Do tell us (me anyway!) if you decide to do a production run. But yes, it doesn't look too difficult. I might even give it a try myself.

Or maybe the Sundance trap? That's the one I've used and it was great.

https://www.kelleybees.com/product-instructions/62%20Sundance%20Pollen%20Trap.pdf

[Paul_]

Would you put pollen sub on the hive with these on given pollen drives brood growth? Or is a few days no big deal?

[drumgerry]

Collection is only done for a couple of days at a time Paul so not much/no impact on colony development if done at the right time of year ie when there’s an abundant pollen supply. Plus it’s said that 1/3 of the pollen gets through the trap and into the hive anyway.

Not much chance of a production run Gavin I’m afraid what with the guitar building and other such nonsense! Sundance trap looks good - similar sort of idea to the OAC I think. Mesh in the right sizes seems to be readily available on eBay but it’s not cheap. Building these will not be inexpensive!


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[Poly Hive]

Unfortunately not a plan but these were Dave Cushmans thoughts on the subject.

https://poly-hive.co.uk/recourses/beginner-resources/general-management/pollen-trapping/

Using duckduckgo instead of google can be valuable. As in: http://beesource.com/build-it-yourself/pollen-traps-trapping-pollen-from-honey-bee-colonies/ and further possibilities: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pollen+traps+for+honey+bee+hives&t=hg&atb=v75-6_u&ia=web

PH

[drumgerry]

Dave's thoughts on anything always worthy of note PH. Shame that part of his site never got fully built.

Fortunately I remembered Donald Sims book has a decent illustration of the OAC pollen trap so I'm good to go. No hurry to build it though as it'll be a while before I need it. Currently -2 here and although we have an inch or two of snow on the ground it's nothing like those of you further south and west.

[Poly Hive]

Yes and it's sad that his site is being slowly changed.

PH