# Harvesting Beebread?



## kyell (Feb 3, 2012)

Does anyone harvest beebread? I have seen a couple of Youtube videos on how to harvest it, but I am wondering more about what you do with it after you harvest it. I have heard a lot about folks trapping pollen before it actually gets in the hive and selling this to folks as a dietary supplement, but wouldn't there be more benefit from the beebread? I mean it is sort of like--should we get a hold of the nectar before the bees process it into honey? Of course not. But I don't know what the benefits of beebread would be for us humans. A great protein source I suppose, but then that is already the case as just plain pollen. Any explanations of the benefits (or perceived benefits) are appreciated.

Thanks,
Kyle


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

A person can also take honey and bee pollen (maybe 50/50?) and mix it. Let it sit on counter for 2 weeks and eat that.


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## BernhardHeuvel (Mar 13, 2013)

If you can read German: someone I know does it. 
http://www.apisjovita.de/tl_files/LANGE/pdf/langebienenbrot.pdf

1. Basicly you cut out the beebread parts of the combs.
2. Set the comb pieces into an empty super on top of a hive and over an excluder and let the bees clean it from honey. The more honey you get out, the better. 
3. Beebread goes into a freezer for five days. This way the wax gets brittle.
4. Beebread goes through a slasher (see picture) which seperates the beebread from the wax. 
5. Blow away the wax dust, sieve.
6. Put the beebread into a dryer and dry it down to 8 % moisture content. 

That's basicly it.


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## Kamon A. Reynolds (Apr 15, 2012)

Nice. Bet it is a more available to our bodies in bee bread form


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

I'm making mead using beebread pollen from the comb as nutrient. 

Also making a small batch using just the wild yeast from the pollen no added yeast. It took two days longer to start but it's going now.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

Wow, seems like a ton of work. I just place a Sundance pollen trap on and harvest daily. What are the added benefits of "bee bread" over regular bee pollen?


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## kyell (Feb 3, 2012)

Thanks for all the answers and comments so far. I think I rambled a bit in my original post. Pretty much I have three questions.

1. What are some examples of how to harvest beebread? (thanks Bernhard Heuvel)
2. What do you do with beebread after you harvest it (how do you package it, or further process it for sale?). (thanks again Bernhard Heuvel)
3. What are the health benefits of beebread over plain pollen that you can take from the bees using a pollen trap?

I also had one big assumption--that beebread is more beneficial to us humans than plain pollen from a pollen trap (no proof of this, just seems that if nectar is better after the bees process it and tree sap is better after the bees process it (propolis); then pollen should be better after the bees process it--probably flawed logic, but even so).

Thanks again to everyone for their responses so far,
Kyle


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

My understanding is that bee bread made by bees or manmade is more easily digested than just bee pollen. Yes, there is more nutrition then. It probably has a longer shelf life.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

Bee bread is pollen that has been mixed with enzymes and honey. This ferments and breaks down the pollen into a more digestible form for the bees and is fed to drone and worker larvae. Nurse bees consume it to make royal jelly. The bee bread is then capped with a thin layer of honey to help preserve it.


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## BeekeepingIsGood (Aug 12, 2012)

Does anyone know how to get bee bread out of comb without destroying the comb?


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