# Alternative Protein for extra brood rearing (For overwintering success) Need Recipes



## angel (Jul 23, 2013)

I'm wanting to increase the brood population in some of my hives that were split this year and was wondering if someone had an alternative protein patty recipes that I can put in the hives to simulate the queens to lay more. Right now KY is in the middle of a good nectar flow (goldenrod) and I'm hesitant on sugar/water feeding (but may do so soon).

Was wanting something simple instead of purchasing from big box beekeeping stores and waiting for it to come in. Something anyone can buy at a local supermarket in a small town (no fancy additives that small town stores don't carry).


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

Not really, even soy flour needs to be heated (just so) in order to allow honey bees to gain nourishment from eating it, it contains natural compounds that inhibit its available nutrition to most animals (only a certain level of heat can easily destroy these compounds without destroying the nutrition, too).

Dried/powdered brewer's yeast is sometimes fed, alone, for your purpose. I suppose other dried yeast products may provide similar nutrition (some of these are available in health food stores).

Most economically, for me, is to purchase a bag of dry BeePro from Mann Lake, or one of Nutribrew (brewer's yeast), or for my preferred mix, one of each.

I believe that some also use dried/powdered milk, though lactose (milk sugar) is toxic to or indigestible by bees.

Your nearby Walter T. Kelley sells an acceptable product, "Feed Bee", as well as other more generic pollen substitutes. I've used their product, with success.


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## ggoodman (Jul 28, 2014)

how about if I have giant yeast trub slurry from brewing 10 gallon batches of beer. can it be used? currently it all goes down the drain and a tiney bit kept for the next batch of beer.


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## divingmikeboats (May 23, 2014)

ggoodman said:


> how about if I have giant yeast trub slurry from brewing 10 gallon batches of beer. can it be used? currently it all goes down the drain and a tiney bit kept for the next batch of beer.


I'd like the answer to that also. Seems a waste on the chickens.


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## angel (Jul 23, 2013)

Thanks Joseph, I've ordered a #40 of BeePro premade patties and #10 of dry BeePro from Mann Lake last night. You would think someone has found a good proven pollen (substitute/replacement) with the advanced technology in the field. I'll put that on my "to do list". Thanks for your help.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Angel - I am no expert, but if you are in an area with small hive beetles, I have hear in the summer feeding protein patties can be asking for shb to explode. So I limited mine to the late winter and spring.

Please post if you use them and let us know if it works. Been to scared to try myself.


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## SpringGreen (Jun 26, 2014)

marshmasterpat said:


> Angel - I am no expert, but if you are in an area with small hive beetles, I have hear in the summer feeding protein patties can be asking for shb to explode. So I limited mine to the late winter and spring.
> 
> Please post if you use them and let us know if it works. Been to scared to try myself.


True that. I used pollen patties earlier this summer, when no pollen was coming in, to help some nucs out. They were rapidly filled with larvae. I gave just quarter sized pieces after that and recently switched entirely to dry, saving what I have left of the patties for spring.

Those larvae filled patties were nasty.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

SpringGreen - You did what I was thinking of doing. Did it work ok with the quarter size pieces or did they get filled with larvae before the bees ate them all?

Might have to experiment next summer with this or just get some pollen traps for spring. Then feed back the pollen later in the summer. 

Thanks


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Our local bee supplier enthusiastically pushes a soy flour based concoction he calls Beezilla. The distinction is that it is boosted with vitamins. I have no opinion as to the effectiveness, but I thought it couldn't hurt one struggling hive.

I have almost no SHB problem at the moment, but he does recommend not putting in more than the bees can eat in 2-3 days, and if you have a SHB problem any kind of patties, including pollen, are a problem.

What the bees think: initially, "What the heck is this stuff?" But the struggling hive made a patty vanish overnight. Did they eat it or discard it? If I get back up there today and there are 60,000 bees, each 60 ft tall, stomping on houses, I'll know for sure.


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## SpringGreen (Jun 26, 2014)

marshmasterpat said:


> SpringGreen - You did what I was thinking of doing. Did it work ok with the quarter size pieces or did they get filled with larvae before the bees ate them all?
> 
> Might have to experiment next summer with this or just get some pollen traps for spring. Then feed back the pollen later in the summer.
> 
> Thanks


It seemed to work better. The quarter patties were too big, but quarter sized (like the size of a coin) were eaten before the bugs got them.


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## angel (Jul 23, 2013)

SpringGreen said:


> It seemed to work better. The quarter patties were too big, but quarter sized (like the size of a coin) were eaten before the bugs got them.


I had several hives with patties placed a month ago and they took the patty fine, but one hive that was struggling had SHB larvae in the patty. I'm wondering if placed closer to the broods nest instead of just dropping it on the top frames would benefit better uptake? There used to be a video of placement of the patties between the frames but I cannot find it anywhere.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Angel - We have warm winters compared to you, with this last winter getting into the 20s. Yikes that is terrible for us. 

Last February I added patty pieces in between the box, directly on top of the brood frames. It got into the 20s which is cold for us, but they seemed to take it fairly fast. They started eating it faster I think compared to the hive I placed it on top of the 1 medium with honey. I stuff it between the frames on one hive so they could surround it better. Think that just made a mess. But these were basically single medium hives with some honey in a top medium.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Sorry this is not a home recipe, but the folks with "PhD" added to their last names down at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona came up with a truly impressive recipe after considerable study. Dadant and Sons sells a version of it called MegaBee. 

The Tucson Diet has boosted hives in my yard that were wasting down in population and turned them around into strong increasers. I'm sure that there are many good feed recipes, but this one has done quite well for me.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

For a good read on the subject on honey bee nutrition, check out Randy Oliver's website, www.scientificbeekeeping.com Click on Bee Nutrition, then read the articles Fat Bees parts 1 through 4, and the pollen sub' feed articles that follow.

The book written by Australian author, Doug Somerville, and mentioned in the references is excellent. http://rirdc.gov.au/reports/HBE/05-054.pdf


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