# pollen production as important extra income



## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

Greetings to all from Guatemala. I have posted info on beekeeping in Guatemala on other forums.
The issue I would like to address is extra income from pollen harvesting. 
One coop in the Guatemala highlands is being quite aggressiv at pollen harvesting and selling, and the benefits are so good they could no longer do without it.
One beekeeper said on the average he is collecting half a pound per hive per month.
This makes 6 lb of pollen per hive per year, at a retail price of $ 7.50 / lb. So he makes an income of about $ 45 per hive per year on pollen alone. 
Honey yields in his area are between 60 and 80 lb per hive, at a retail price of 
$1.30 / lb.....= $78 - $ 104. Retail market is not always the best way to go because honey sells slowly, and when you have several drums, cash flow becomes more important than high profit. Wholesale honey price is hardly above $ 0.70 / lb.
So it is quite clear that pollen is a big help for the beekeeper´s economy. The same could be true of propolis and beeswax, if beekeepers were to take the extra trouble and skill required.
Pollen that does not qualify for retail market (powdery, dirty) is fed back to the bees in patty form mixed with dry yeast, honey and dry milk powder . . . a real boost for brood rearing.
Any inputs from anyone ?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I think pollen trapping is great. Like honey the harvest is variable. The pests (ants etc.) can be a problem. The wax moths love it, but that can be cleaned out and fed to the chickens. Just make sure you have a way for enough pollen to get in. A 3/8" hole somwhere for drones and mating queens etc and some bees with pollen to get in for sure is helpful.


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

Thanks for joining in Mike.
I think one of the drawbacks of pollen selling is its high price. It is not actual cost of production that sets the price but rather the tremendous goodness that pollen contains what make it so expensive. An increase in supply would probably bring prices down a bit, but the question is if selling at lower prices will rapidly increase demand so that intense harvesting becomes more interesting. Processing small batches is always more expensive than larger amounts.
pollen mixed into honey jars is also an alternative, and a sure way to keep it free of mould and yests. This could do away with having to dry pollen.


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## SippyBees (Feb 17, 2004)

I wonder what the maximum amount of pollen you could mix with honey and still prevent mold... ?? Seems like mixing it with honey would be a good idea for marketing/storage without having to do all the drying and preserving.... and most people that want to eat pollen would also eat honey. Hmmmm interesting idea.....


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

After all, it's how the bees store it.


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

To Mike and Sippy Bees: honey will prevent poleen from spoling alright. Not very many people like the tade of pollen though, so probably only a couple of ounces per pound will still make it tasty. The name for honey / pollen could sound like Polley or Hollen.
Powdered pollen will not stay forever in suspension, so perhaps one should try creamed honey and make it set quckly so the pollen will not float to the top. Refrigerating the honey after mixing will make it more viscuous, and pollen powder may stay in place. I´ll mix some myself and will let you know how it goes.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The pollen will speed up the crystalization process.


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

Mike: never thought of that. Fine pollen powder can act as a starter. You are right!!

Down here in Guatemala pollen is selling locally, retail, for about $7.50 / lb if cheaply packed by the beekeeper himself(or herself). 
Honey sells for $ 1.30 / lb under same conditions.


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

The addition of powdered pollen to liquid honey has some disadvantages: 1. It makes honey cloudy, loosing the cristalline look customers love. 2. pollen does rise to the surface.
For those two reasons I beleive pollen can be mixed into creamed honey, where appearance is no longer an issue and the solid consistency does not allow for particle segregation. However, in order to keep the pollen from rising while the honey solidifies, frequent mixing is necessary.

Creamed honey with pollen turns into a paste colored by the pollen pigments.
As I stated before, some 10 - 15 % pollen by weight is a good addition to a pound of honey.


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

I tried 10 % pollen added to liquid honey, plus an addition of about 15 % creanmed honey as a starter. The goal was to obtain a smoothly crystallized honey / pollen cream.

Observations:
* pollen floated to top although it had been pulverized. I beat the mixture several times but still pollen rose.

* I had done creamed honey before and it always hardened right and fast. This time, it is taking longer for crystals to form. I was hopeful that pollen grains would add to process, but they seem to be slowing it down.

* the mixture has a bit too strong a pollen flavour, which may not be agreeable to all.

*it will take a few more days for me to know whether honey / pollen will crystallize into creamed consistency. I´ll keep you posted.


Is there anyone out there trying funny receipes and new ways to market their bee products ? i´d love to hear.


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2004)

Emptying the pollen trap drawers without
fail every day will eliminate nearly all
the waxmoth and ant problems. If we must
leave town, I just open the traps to
"bypass" when I empty the traps the day
before I leave. The "Sundance" type trap
sold by Lloyd Spear has a very nice sliding
panel, so opening and closing takes a few
seconds at most.

If you are worried about mold, simply keep
the pollen in a freezer. You want a
tupperware type container, and you want to
leave the lid open (or cut a hole in the
top and install mesh) to allow the freezer
to keep the humidity constant. Give the
container a stir with your hand now and
again to keep it from clumping.

At retail, the shopkeeper must also keep
the pollen in a freezer, and must be
willing to bottle or bag pollen to order.
The kind of people willing to pay several
dollars for a few ounces of pollen are
the sort of people who will be impressed
at the taste difference between fresh
frozen and the dried-out garbage that is
the usual offering. The pollen left out
for sampling should be tossed out at the
end of the day, so figure on 1 oz per day
being either consumed or wasted in "sampling".

To sell your pollen at retail, you need only
allow people to "taste the difference". Go
buy a bottle of pollen at GNC or one of the
other "vitamin stores". Let customers try
a taste of each. Taste will sell your pollen
every time. GNC gets $12.95 for a 7oz bottle
of hard, dried-out tasteless things that look
like rejects from the Grape-Nuts factory.

My stuff is "like eating flowers", so it goes
for more. Hehehe. We don't even bottle it.
The shopkeepers use zip-lock bags, and slap
their own store label on the bag.

The best time to empty pollen drawers is
at dusk, so I take the dog along, and we
stroll, check entrances, and dump pollen
drawers all at the same time. 

I never put pollen traps into service until
after nectar flows, as I like to add top
entrances for flows, and with a pollen trap
in service, one cannot have any other
entrance.


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## guatebee (Nov 15, 2004)

Moisture contents of freshly trapped pollen depends mostly on air humidity. Sometimes pollen can be so humid as to desintegrate at the lightest manipulation. So, how do you clean it ? Is your entrance pollen trap harvest so clean and freee of foreign matter(bee parts, ants, mites, debris) that it needs no cleaning ?

I agree that fresh pollen tastes like heaven compared to dried pollen. There is one type of pollen that tastes even better, although no commercially available: comb-stored pollen (bee bread). I guess that´s a king´s treat reserved for the beekeeper alone !


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## SippyBees (Feb 17, 2004)

yes, Jfischer, Is your pollen very clean from the drawer, or do you clean it after you collect it? I saw a small electric "pollen cleaner" in a Dadant, or Kelly catalog.... does this thing work well?? Anyone with experience? I was just given 260 FREEEEE!! pollen traps.. as best I can tell they are almost exactly like the Sundance. The only difference is they did not have the cover over the screen to prevent hive debris from falling into the drawer.... I plan to add this though before I use them.
Looking forward to Jfischer's reply... do you routinely collect pollen?
Thanx much
SippyBee


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2004)

I'm trying out my new, more powerful wireless set-up here at the
farm. Santa brought a very nice 802.11g box, so I can now be
"online" down at the river, at the site of the future gazebo.

> Sometimes pollen can be so humid as to disintegrate at the lightest 
> manipulation. So, how do you clean it ?

One wants to collect and pour the pollen into a freezer to de-humidify 
the pollen before cleaning. A few days later, the pollen can be cleaned, 
and will survive the process intact.

> Is your pollen very clean from the drawer, 

Yes.

> or do you clean it after you collect it? 

...and yes.









There is no excuse for selling even a single tasty crunchy
bee part in a bottle of pollen. The customer who finds even
one foreign object in your pollen will never buy from you again,
so cleaning is critical. Some folks run their pollen through
multiple passes, just to be sure.

> I saw a small electric "pollen cleaner" in a Dadant, or Kelly catalog.... 
> does this thing work well??

Works like a champ! Well worth the money. I had a 6-foot long cleaner,
which blew the pollen into a "good" chamber nearer the fan, and blew the
garbage into a further-away chamber. This worked fine, but the smaller
design is just as good at cleaning pollen, and takes up MUCH less room.
(Their weaker fan blows only the garbage away, letting the cleaned pollen
fall straight down.)


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