# corn meal



## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

I would imagine the only way you could get the girls to take even a second glance at corn meal would be to mix it with a lot of suger, or pollen, or something....

Corn should have a pretty good content of carbohydrates which would place it along side of potatoes as an acceptable ingredient to make up some kind of pollen substitute..... maybe????


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

If you're anywhere near a dairy farm that feeds high moisture corn silage from ag-bags, you know that bees will feed on corn. They gather it up in the spring, before natural pollen is available. Has a white/pinkish color, and a musty smell.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Just because bees collect it, does not mean its good for them.


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

Reading the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I'm horrified to recognize that corn is in almost everything we eat. He talks about corn's successful evolution to get man to essentially take care of its future by the ways in which it has evolved.

I won't add my bees to the rest of us, being inundated by corn in so many variations.....why would you want to feed corn to the bees when there's honey, sugar syrup, etc.?

Linda T in Atlanta


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## ScadsOBees (Oct 2, 2003)

Instead of making bee-bread, they use the corn meal instead to make corn-bread. Then they really really like it when you feed them maple syrup too instead of plain syrup. 

If the corn meal isn't too finely ground I would imagine that they discard the big peices and maybe only use the remaining corn flour. People feed soy flour, and it s different but can't imagine that they would get enough to hurt them.

Just because it didn't hurt them doesn't mean that it is helping them.


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## JohnBeeMan (Feb 24, 2004)

I have also seen the bees feeding on the black gunk that I clean out of the guuters. That still does not mean that I should start feeding black gunk.

People have been know to chew on leather when starving. But I do not know of any leather recipes.


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## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

(I'll have my mother-in-law send you some leather recipes!)

OH! 

I'll agree with the statement that bees will collect just about anything. I've heard of them collecting sawdust in the spring, before anything is producing pollen, simply because it LOOKS like pollen. It holds no nutritional value, but they'll collect it!

DS


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## Robert Hawkins (May 27, 2005)

I also have seen bees collect sawdust. And I've seen them drink slime. Neither has anything to do with the current question.

Ken, it looks like none of us know anything about feeding cornmeal to honeybees. I'm not in a position to test it right now. If I were i think I would grind it a little finer maybe even to the consistency of flour. Let us know how it works.

Hawk


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

exactly correct hawk...

mr palmer states:
high moisture corn silage 

tecumseh writes:
this would suggest that pickling 'might be' essential to encourge the girls to use corn... corn 'likely' contains about 9 percent protein and the pickling should make this more usable. compare this to soy flour which is more like 30 percent +. some years back I did read about a pollen substitute that contained mashed up baked potatoes so I suspect the idea is not totally nonsense.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Maybe some information on what bees need from a nutrition standpoint would shed some light on whether cornmeal would make a good food source or not. 

http://www.honeybee.com.au/Library/pollen/nutrition.html

I'll bet that cornmeal does not come close...


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

>I'll agree with the statement that bees will collect just about anything.<

>this would suggest that pickling 'might be' essential to encourge the girls to use corn... <

Pickled corn? In the spring, before the first pollen, many dairy farmers open the barn doors on the first warm days. Invariably I get calls...my bees have invaded. They gather manure from the gutters, and carry it home in their pollen baskets. Many get lost in the barn, because they forget they flew in the doors at the ends of the barn, and try to fly out the windows along the manger. They fly around the cows' legs, tickling them, causing the cows do a funny dance.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

My sister and BIL throw their coffee grounds in the flower beds where my bees will collect it or something in it.

For the last few weeks my bees have been collecting grain dust from the deer feeder and this spring they will be hitting the cattle feeder for the same stuff. I am sure that there is something of value in the grain dust, I just don't know if it is of value to the bees. I bet they use it in their bee bread.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>first warm days. Invariably I get calls...my bees have invaded

The first few days of spring, before the trees come out, are the days that I always have calls of complaints. Not anyother time of year. Its always "your bees are swarming in my stock yard!"

I feed soyflour just for the very reason that it seems to be very attractive to the bees and tends to keep them closer to the yards till the trees come out. I dont think it does alot for them in terms of brood production, the bees dont brood much till the trees start anyway. 
I use to spend the money on the "better" stuff, but after a couple years comparison, between the soy , the "better" stuff and none, they all split the same way. Might as well spend that extra money on the supplement that you place into the hive and make your money back that way.


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

Ian said:


> >>first warm days. Invariably I get calls...my bees have invaded


Sue Hubbell discussed that in her book, I think she would tell the farmers that she would feed the bees to take care of it and then do nothing


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## Dwight K (Nov 28, 2007)

I've watched my bees work corn in my bird feeder as well as sawdust on the ground from oak trees that I cut the winter before.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>I think she would tell the farmers that she would feed the bees to take care of it and then do nothing 

now now dcross, we need these farmers on our side.. They are the ones producing our honey crops.


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

Ian said:


> now now dcross, we need these farmers on our side.. They are the ones producing our honey crops.


Which is why she would assure them she would take care of it, and then just wait for the trees and such to bloom, solving the "problem".

I like farmers, I just wish they could give me a little more notice when they need help with the milking, shoveling, and baling


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## souficoufi (Dec 10, 2016)

Bonjour
Un ami apiculteur me conseilla la poudre de fève et il dit que c'est bon pour les abeilles.J'ai pas encore utilisé.


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## Groundhwg (Jan 28, 2016)

BjornBee said:


> Just because bees collect it, does not mean its good for them.


Any reason to believe it (corn meal) is not good for bees?  Sure wish some one had a real answer to the OP question as I have so much to learn and would love to hear if corn meal was good to feed bees and if so just what it did to help them. Like others have said bees pick up what they want when they want to i.e. sawdust, "black gunk", cow droppings. :scratch: Maybe no real reason for them to gather corn meal other than they want to.


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## souficoufi (Dec 10, 2016)

Farine de mais est bonne ,farine de fève aussi.
Les abeilles sont propres et mangent propre,elles ne vont pas aux endroits sales.J'ai remarqué ça .Elles sont différentes des mouches.Les mouches vont dans des endroits sales.Enfin! l'abeille est très propre.


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## hilreal (Aug 16, 2005)

10 g protein in 1 cup corn meal. If you are raising brood and need protein you use what you have.


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

Souficoufi, I thought you were using Google Translate? 
For those that don't read French, he is saying that bean flour is very good bee protein.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

We occasionally put out some whole kernel corn for the deer. The bees are interested in it. I've watched individual bees try to move a kernel as big as they are. If I grind up a piece, they'll carry it back to the hive.

Today we were delighted to find a hive we thought was dead is really alive and well. Their bottom tray, installed clean a week and a half ago, seems to have a fair amount of crushed corn in it, probably the leftovers from the last feeding of the deer.

It could be that inexperienced bees bring this back, then workers who know better dispose of it. We fed pollen sub today ... sometimes that gets thrown out as well. They all seem to have adequate honey left.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Groundhwg said:


> Any reason to believe it (corn meal) is not good for bees?  Sure wish some one had a real answer to the OP question as I have so much to learn and would love to hear if corn meal was good to feed bees and if so just what it did to help them. Like others have said bees pick up what they want when they want to i.e. sawdust, "black gunk", cow droppings. :scratch: Maybe no real reason for them to gather corn meal other than they want to.


Didnt you read the following quote from 10 years ago? It sums up the logic perfectly. 



Tillie said:


> Reading the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I'm horrified to recognize that corn is in almost everything we eat. He talks about corn's successful evolution to get man to essentially take care of its future by the ways in which it has evolved.
> 
> I won't add my bees to the rest of us, being inundated by corn in so many variations.....why would you want to feed corn to the bees when there's honey, sugar syrup, etc.?


Still wondering why sugar syrup (presumably including HFCS) is OK, but corn isn't :scratch:.


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

Nabber, HFCS is carbs, sugar; corn or bean flour would be protein for brood raising. Corn less than bean, of course.


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## souficoufi (Dec 10, 2016)

BDT123 said:


> Souficoufi, I thought you were using Google Translate?
> For those that don't read French, he is saying that bean flour is very good bee protein.


Le traducteur Bing est une catastrophe.
Pardon j'ai pas dit haricot mais j'ai dit "fève".


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## souficoufi (Dec 10, 2016)

Je crois que la farine de mais est bonne,la poudre de fèves(Fava bean)est aussi bonne.
Je crois aussi que l'abeille ne va que dans les endroits propres,jamais dans les endroits sales,c'est par expérience que je connais ça mais pas par des études scientifiques.excréments de vache n'est pas sales si les vaches se nourrissent d'herbes.


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## popeye (Apr 21, 2013)

In flyable weather this time of year the bees are all over my scratch corn feeder for the chickens.


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## souficoufi (Dec 10, 2016)

souficoufi said:


> Le traducteur Bing est une catastrophe.
> Pardon j'ai pas dit haricot mais j'ai dit "fève".


http://www.lesfruitsetlegumesfrais....ines-germees-legumineuses/feve/carte-identite


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## Gumpy (Mar 30, 2016)

ScadsOBees said:


> Instead of making bee-bread, they use the corn meal instead to make corn-bread. Then they really really like it when you feed them maple syrup too instead of plain syrup.


In the south, you have to give them a glass of milk, too!


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## Gumpy (Mar 30, 2016)

souficoufi said:


> Le traducteur Bing est une catastrophe.


https://translate.google.com/


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