Pollen Feed discussion

[rdy-b]

wheres the AFB coming from -the pollen is not taken out of the hive it is trapped and gathered before entering the colony -it is trapped at the entrance of the hive -cant see it being exposed to AFB spores-they are in the hive and at the most extreme inside the bees gut-the big worry about the pollen is the amount of pesticide that AG is using -systemic-and residue- nobody can be certain about large or even small quantities of pollen being chem free-or the nutritional value- seams to vary greatly with environmental conditions shuch as drought- for the big suppliers it is just unpredictable what the source is exposed to -not to mention country of origin-RDY-B

[Michael Bush]

>Thoughts on using bought pollen for feeding and AFB?

I feed real pollen, often from other sources, and have never had AFB.  I'd say Chalkbrood is a bigger risk from feeding pollen collected from a bottom pollen trap.  A top pollen trap is much cleaner as debris falls down not up, but still if they are trying to haul the mummies out the top (as with a top trap) you could get pieces of chalkbrood mummies in the pollen.

[alfred]

Thanks for that. I have just heard so much that you don't want to use anything from unknown hive sources that I am paranoid about it. I guess that I will go ahead and order some from brushy mtn for  making patties.

Alfred

[gaucho10]

Just my two cents worth....In 30 yrs of beekeeping I never fed my bees pollen.  My bees came through the winter just fine.  Did I loose any part of a honey flow?  I don't know but I allways managed to have honey later on in the season.  Personally, I think it is just extra work.