# Pollen Hoarding Lines



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Try some Hawaiian stocks. Since they live in a tropical environment with things blooming I would assume that those are the
pollen hoarders. Why not? Both honey and pollen will be the beekeeper's main source of revenue for bee specialty
products. You can ask how they deal with the mites too since some emphasized on organic certified operation.


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

Abundance of year round pollen, and pollen hoarding are two unrelated things.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Consider the price of pollen these days, it would very profitable to breed the pollen
hoarding carnis bees there in HI. My bees will collect more pollen than they need during 
the early Spring time. I like more bees than the pollen frames that they collected. This coming
Spring I will use the pollen traps to collect some for me to use.


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

I have to wonder why you would be looking for different nosema resistant bees at all. Are you having recurring problems with it? Half the bees in my apiary came from OWA and most of the other half are their offspring. I have never seen a case of nosema yet and don't expect to any time soon. Nosema C. does not seem to be as big a problem as Nosema A. and the A. strain is difficult to find these days. On top of that, the C. strain seems to be more of a problem where the weather is much warmer than the north end of the Olympic peninsula.


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

dudelt said:


> I have to wonder why you would be looking for different nosema resistant bees at all. Are you having recurring problems with it? Half the bees in my apiary came from OWA and most of the other half are their offspring. I have never seen a case of nosema yet and don't expect to any time soon. Nosema C. does not seem to be as big a problem as Nosema A. and the A. strain is difficult to find these days. On top of that, the C. strain seems to be more of a problem where the weather is much warmer than the north end of the Olympic peninsula.


O don't get me wrong, I am OWA's biggest fan. Dan and Judy have guided me from "uhh bees are flying out of this tree I cut down" to rearing queens. About the only thing in beekeeping I haven't learned from them, is insemination, and mostly because I had already booked a class with Sue Cobey without realizing they do in house ii. Without OWA, I wouldn't been in beekeeping. They are not far from my place, and I truly love visiting them, always education. My youngest daughter has even built a special bond with Judy, she is such a kind loving patient person. Really they are the best people, and my producer of my favorite queen. (I could go on and on about how great they are).

About half my operation is headed by queens either produced by OWA, daughters of OWA queens, or inseminated with drones from OWA queens. Dan even allowed me to take drones from his best breeders this year to inseminate a queen (which is at his place now, yellow jackets overwhelmed me and OWA jumped in to take my "important" queens as I combined my hives).

I'm looking for more lines for a project. We are starting a project in our association to bring in better stronger queen lines into our area. We want to flood Clallam County with the best bee genetics for our area. As much as I would like to entirely focus on OWA and my own stocks, that would be a bit too self serving. So we are gathering other lines with the traits we want, and evaluating them. I acquired quite a few "really good" lines of bees this year, currently evaluating them. Looking to get other lines to start evaluating in spring 2018.


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

Research I understand and I wish I had a good recommendation for you. I also agree with your sentiments regarding Dan and Judy. Very nice people. I understand the forest fires and the smoke really effected them this year. Good luck finding what you are looking for.


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

dudelt said:


> Research I understand and I wish I had a good recommendation for you. I also agree with your sentiments regarding Dan and Judy. Very nice people. I understand the forest fires and the smoke really effected them this year. Good luck finding what you are looking for.


Yeah smoke was bad, I did manage to get all of mine mated. He just a few miles away, but fog kept the smoke pinned on him. If you ever head out this way, please give me a shout, you will absolutely pass my apiary if you head to his.


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## josethayil (Jul 17, 2008)

AMM lines are good pollen hoarders


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

We don't have the AMM here in the states. If we do then they are
the mutt bees which is quite aggressive I've read. I know a queen
operation that have the carnis x Italians which are good pollen hoarders though
quite aggressive to my liking. Wouldn't want any of those drones around. Do you keep the AMM too?


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

I don't think I've ever had a colony of bees that were not good pollen collectors.
All collected it, used it and hoarded it.
I trap pollen and have not put the trap on a healthy colony that was substantially different than any other.

Propolis collectors and comb builders yes, better pollen collectors no.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

clyderoad said:


> I don't think I've ever had a colony of bees that were not good pollen collectors.
> All collected it, used it and hoarded it.
> I trap pollen and have not put the trap on a healthy colony that was substantially different than any other.
> 
> Propolis collectors and comb builders yes, better pollen collectors no.


I pretty much agree with this. I also trap pollen (have for quite a few years) and I don't see a huge difference between the different bees I keep. Most of my bees collect lots of pollen. At times, at least in the southeast, too much pollen becomes a liability. By mid summer, some colonies are carrying a lot of pollen and any reduction in populations make them more vulnerable to SHB that love frames of pollen. Crops get sprayed in July through August, which can have a dramatic effect on field forces, resulting in stresses, and sometimes gives SHB an opportunity. 

BTW, I don't believe I've ever seen a case of Nosema (A or C) - perhaps a much bigger deal up north.


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