Combs stuffed with pollen

[jeanne hansen]

There was quite a lot of discussion in this group, in early spring, about combs plugged full of pollen from last fall.  What to do with it?  I have always put it into the hives in the spring.  Here are my 2 anecdotes from this year:

My friend had 3 combs totally filled with pollen which she left in the hive in the spring.  Now 2 of those combs are filled with capped brood!

I had 6 (medium) frames filled with pollen.  I made sure I kept them immediately next to brood, and now all those frames have brood in them.

I don't believe the bees dug out the old pollen and threw it away, because the bottom board had no crumbs of it in evidence, and none was seen on the ground in front of the hive.  I believe the bees used that pollen.  Even if they did  not actually consume it, they at least were re-using the combs.  It saved me the expense of providing new combs.

I will continue to give those combs of pollen to my bees every spring.

Jeanne Hansen

824 Jacobson Ave

Madison, WI 53714

608-244-5094

[marvin]

I think there's two sides to this topic.  I think that you're correct in that frames of fresh pollen (say less than 2 years old) does get used and the frames will get re-utilized for brood rearing.  The other side is what happens to frames of much older pollen.  The bees seem to cap those pollen cells off (I've seen the term "mummified") and ignore them for eternity.  That's where the problem arises.  Washing out the pollen is one solution, all though its not that easy.  I run Pierco plastic frames, and have learned that you can use a power washer to clean off the comb, and then re-wax and the bees will draw out new comb pretty easily.  That's how I approach it.  I'd be interested in other's experience on this.

[Jimmer Yunek]

Have you ever popped them in right now between brood frames?  I have so many pollen frames

Jimmer

608-279-5542

On Jun 24, 2021, at 10:56 AM, 'jeanne hansen' via madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[Paul Zelenski]

Marvin is exactly right. It really depends how old the pollen is. If it’s still ‘fresh’ the bees will use it (usually at a lower preference to actual fresh pollen coming in) but if it is older, they will ignore it and encapsulate/mummify it. Once it reaches that point, they just won’t use it no matter where you put it. I have read that some of the liquid protein feeding additives can be used to drench old pollen and make it appealing again. I planned to give it a try this year, but haven’t even had time for my routine maintenance this year, so experiments will have to wait.

Nucs and splits that don’t have a large foraging force are more likely to use subpar pollen since they will have a need for protein but won’t have much coming in. It is also probably why Jeanne sees her bees using old pollen when mine often just ignore it until it goes bad; she always complains she has a shortage of pollen and needs to supplement, where I end up with hives plugged with pollen.

 

Plastic foundation can always be power washed back to plain plastic and rewaxed as if you’re starting over. It’s one good thing about plastic foundation. Of course, wax foundation can just removed, melted down and replaced. I just hate to see more plastic end up in landfills, so like to see plastic foundation reused whenever possible.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAL25%2B8tmS_GFCshmWbFHRB4eZYYRyysHU-JsJSff_srZE%2Bn-yA%40mail.gmail.com.

 

[jeanne hansen]

Yes, now that the weather is warm and it is easy for the bees keep the brood warm, I do put pollen frames right in the middle of the cluster.

Jeanne Hansen

824 Jacobson Ave

Madison, WI 53714

608-244-5094

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAL25%2B8tmS_GFCshmWbFHRB4eZYYRyysHU-JsJSff_srZE%2Bn-yA%40mail.gmail.com

.

[oliver...@gmail.com]

I need to clean up some plastic comb after wax moths infestation. What a mess! Can you pressure wash plastic foundation when its still in the wooden frame or is it better to remove, wash, and reinsert? 

[Paul Zelenski]

Either will work depending how much you want it to get splashed all over you ;)

On Jun 24, 2021, at 2:09 PM, oliver...@gmail.com <oliver...@gmail.com> wrote:

I need to clean up some plastic comb after wax moths infestation. What a mess! Can you pressure wash plastic foundation when its still in the wooden frame or is it better to remove, wash, and reinsert? 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/3ac4aa62-a0c1-44bd-a356-757756bd7d04n%40googlegroups.com.

[marvin]

Ya, don't wear your Sunday's best when power washing combs.  

[Jeff Steinhauer]

It's posts like Marvin's above that makes me wish we could add thumbs up or lol emojis without writing a whole new response message.