# Pollen patties in February?



## Tibbigt (Mar 17, 2017)

Hi everyone I was wondering if it’s ok to feed the bees pollen patties sometime this week in Pennsylvania? I know I can get winter patties but kinda didn’t wanna spend the money when here in a month I’ll be going back to regular patties. Plus I wanted to make my own patties and can’t find a recipe for winter patties only seem to be regular 

I am also doing a dry sugar on top the hive.

If anyone can let me know the pros and cons of patties this early!!

Thanks


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## Virgil (Jan 14, 2018)

I give them as a valentines gift. The only thing I know is the first time I did it I didn't realize you have to keep feeding until they were up and running.


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## Tibbigt (Mar 17, 2017)

Does it hurt to start this early?


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## Virgil (Jan 14, 2018)

Tibbigt said:


> Does it hurt to start this early?


Depends where you live, if you feed them pollen they'd start raising brood if they can. If they run out of food they'll start cannibalising the brood. This is just my experience, I started feeding them when they ate all the pattie I didn't know I had to add another one if they didn't have natrual pollen to feed on. I'm sure someone who feeds it as scale will be along in a bit - what I do now is make sure they don't run out.


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## Tibbigt (Mar 17, 2017)

Virgil said:


> Tibbigt said:
> 
> 
> > Does it hurt to start this early?
> ...


I am just trying to make sure they make this final 2 Month push. I am adding another bag of sugar per hive today and wanted to add patties but didn’t wanna start to soon.


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## MimbresBees (Sep 22, 2016)

Tibbigt said:


> Does it hurt to start this early?


once you start you can't stop...


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## COAL REAPER (Jun 24, 2014)

FWIW, I am same latitude as you, ~200' lower elevation, so you are probably slightly cooler than me.
I am waiting a bit longer. I want them to be able to do cleansing flights every few weeks once I start feeding. looks good for the next two weeks, but end of FEB is supposed to be cooler.
here are dates for first pollen since I started tracking:
2015: day 91	
2016: day 51
2017: day 61
so it can delay until april first. if i KNEW they would have some flying days AND natural pollen was coming by day 60 it wouldn't be a problem to feed now.
valentines day may in fact be appropriate. hope that helps a little.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

In the Albany NY area I would not start pollen sub until the middle of March. Cleansing flight opportunities every few weeks is not enough. I'd want chances to fly every few days. 

There is no real benefit that I can see to goosing the earliest brood, you just risk problems later in the spring. If you know you have some pollen in there let the bees work on it. Once they start to be able to pull in some natural pollen, then if you want to make sure they don't run out between pollen surges, then OK give them some pollen sub.

You also have to face that fact that boosting the build-up will hyper-magnify your need for really proactive swarm control strategies. You could boost the build-up, only to lose them to the trees, when a slower more natural pace would have made it easy to keep them at home and ready to make a lot of honey for you.

To compare my climate to yours: I get my earliest daffodils blooming around the 10th of April. So I am starting my pollen sub about three weeks before that.

Once you start you are committed through apple bloom.

If you have sugar on them, you don't need winter patty. Bees pretty much only use carbs in the winter.

Nancy


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## Hinterhoffarm (Jan 19, 2018)

I'm in SE PA and usually start mid Feb and continue feeding until pollen starts coming in.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

I use to but don't anymore. I found they just didn't need it and it was extra work. Once maple starts to bloom in early February theres plenty of pollen available. They also store pollen from previous year thats usually left over.


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## Vectorjet (Feb 20, 2015)

My bees were out flying today, so just to see what they would do, I put out some dry pollen sub near the hives. They never touched the stuff.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

my friend is in Allentown, he puts them on in March if they have plenty of honey, if we have an easy rest of winter you could be ok, but if the bees get locked in for any extended time frame or you are short of honey, you could be in big trouble.


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

Vectorjet said:


> My bees were out flying today, so just to see what they would do, I put out some dry pollen sub near the hives. They never touched the stuff.


I put out a cup of pollen sub, it was totally gone in about 2 hours, the bees attacked it! After reading this thread I will not give them any more until we are warmer.

They are inhaling the sugar blocks we have on the hives, some of them, other hives are not touching the blocks. 

We are diving down in temps again.


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## COAL REAPER (Jun 24, 2014)

Vectorjet said:


> My bees were out flying today, so just to see what they would do, I put out some dry pollen sub near the hives. They never touched the stuff.


I haven't been able to get mine to take any either


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## Greeny (Jun 27, 2016)

missybee said:


> I put out a cup of pollen sub, it was totally gone in about 2 hours, the bees attacked it! After reading this thread I will not give them any more until we are warmer.
> 
> They are inhaling the sugar blocks we have on the hives, some of them, other hives are not touching the blocks.
> 
> We are diving down in temps again.


I'm just a little bit warmer than Frederick, and my bees are bringing in pollen from somewhere/something every day it's above 50 or so.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Greeny said:


> I'm just a little bit warmer than Frederick, and my bees are bringing in pollen from somewhere/something every day it's above 50 or so.


Same here in Richmond. Plenty of pollen coming in on flying days. I dropped brood builder patties on them three weeks ago. They were consuming it the following weekend when I was able to last check. Been too cold to open the hives the past two weekends. Hoping for big build up to begin splits.


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## Tibbigt (Mar 17, 2017)

Anyone got any good recipes for patties? Was hoping to find local ingredients sense shipping with mannlake is expensive unless I spend more then $100


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

I believe it really depends on when your main flow starts. Here in WA, our main flow is blackberry which in a very early month starts on May 10th. In late years it starts on June 1 and the average is about the 20th of May. Using the 42 day rule, bees that start foraging on May 20th started out as eggs on April 8. If I want a full foraging force on May 20th, my queen needs to start laying in earnest on about March 25th. That is when I start watching the weather. If the weather is nice and the bees can forage on most days, they can gather plenty of pollen on their own. If the weather sucks at that time, I will give them a patty to keep the queen laying. But you also have to be careful to avoid swarming. If you are going to give patties, you need to have a well thought out reason for it. Boosting the population for no reason other than having a big hive is a waste of resources and is a recipe for swarming.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Tibbigt said:


> Anyone got any good recipes for patties? Was hoping to find local ingredients sense shipping with mannlake is expensive unless I spend more then $100


Search Lauri's posts. She has a good recipe for patties but you need stuff from Mann Lake to make them. If you are only talking a few pounds, check your local hardware store or Tractor Supply.


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## BeekeeperWV (Feb 9, 2015)

I'm in East Tennessee. I started feeding pollen substitute about two weeks ago. When I lived in Hellertown, PA I didn't start feeding until the 2nd week of March. If you start this early, you will have to keep feeding until they are on a solid flow. That would be the middle to end of April. You will also want to be ready to divide almost immediately upon the first nectar flow.


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## Tibbigt (Mar 17, 2017)

BeekeeperWV said:


> I'm in East Tennessee. I started feeding pollen substitute about two weeks ago. When I lived in Hellertown, PA I didn't start feeding until the 2nd week of March. If you start this early, you will have to keep feeding until they are on a solid flow. That would be the middle to end of April. You will also want to be ready to divide almost immediately upon the first nectar flow.


When u say divide u mean split yeah? If so that’s ok with me I need to make up for 1 dead maybe 2 the second one I’m not sure yet lots of bees but don’t seem to come out when it’s above 60 and it’s bee having a lot of dead bees but still strong numbers. And I wanna double my hives this yr anyway lol.


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## UTvolshype (Nov 26, 2012)

Tibbigt said:


> When u say divide u mean split yeah? If so that’s ok with me I need to make up for 1 dead maybe 2 the second one I’m not sure yet lots of bees but don’t seem to come out when it’s above 60 and it’s bee having a lot of dead bees but still strong numbers. And I wanna double my hives this yr anyway lol.


Silver/Swamp Maple and Elm trees should be in bloom right now or within days. Maples will provide nectar and pollen while the elm trees just pollen. Protein patties for me just feed hive beetles. I open feed Bee Pro on warm days (above 45 degrees) and once the maples/elm start blooming they slow way down on the open feeding. Patties are good if the weather gets nasty again but I'll change them out every week to control the beetles.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I normally start feeding patties now. People are right, once you start, you shouldn't stop and I don't until I see those half frame size patches of gathered pollen. For me that means I buy ten pounds for every overwintering colony. Experience has taught me that averages out. The queenless hive won't take much but the next hive will need two ponds a week after theystart brooding up. By April, some may need four pounds a week.

But I am doing it with a design. These hives will be making honey off fruit and dandelion and caragana. They will be splittable, in fact will be swarming unless split. If you are not willing to do the extra work and management. Do not prime the pump nless you want water.


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

burns375 said:


> I use to but don't anymore. I found they just didn't need it and it was extra work. Once maple starts to bloom in early February theres plenty of pollen available. They also store pollen from previous year thats usually left over.


I bought a #50 bag of dry sub a couple years back. I have open fed every winter, because last few winters have been warm. But i havent fed this winter due to cold.
In my area pollen is abundant. So much that the bees dont touch my sub from now til december. 
You should be seeing your girls bringing in natural pollen right now.
Have you looked?

P.s. i still have about #40 sub in freezer.


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