# Adding Pollen Supplement to Sugar Syrup?



## DirtyLittleSecret (Sep 10, 2014)

How many of you are adding some pollen supplement (i.e.: Bee-Pro/Ultra-Bee/Mega-Bee/etc.) to your syrups? See it referenced every now and then but not seeing any recommendations for ratios?


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

I keep the two separate. I always give a patty during the cell building process, and of course feed sugar water.


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## DirtyLittleSecret (Sep 10, 2014)

AB- trying to figure out best means for feeding queen castles (no room for patties). Appreciate any ideas!


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## JoshuaW (Feb 2, 2015)

Amino-B-Healthy in syrup.:thumbsup:


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

Mega bee mixes well into a syrup. I can't remember the exact ratio though


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

DirtyLittleSecret said:


> AB- trying to figure out best means for feeding queen castles (no room for patties). Appreciate any ideas!


Oh. Bore a hole in the covers for a feeder jar. Am using 3/4" wood for covers on my QC. There's room for a small hunk of pollen patty. 
I put a little hunk about 1' x 2" on top of the frames where the hole is. Then put the jar-feeder above. 
It gets eaten pretty quickly which is good. Not much chance for SHB to lay their nasties in the patty.
After the first pollen patty got all yucky with SHB larva I started thinking about using half or quarter pound size pieces or less. (Full-size hives) Hope this helps.

Checked my QC today. One mated queen, one virgin, and one that didn't make it or was out mating. Raising queens is a blast! Everyone should have a QC or two.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

I make up my own mix in the spring for feeding, it's a pretty simple recipe, and they mostly devour it. Starts with a 2kilo (4.4lb) sack of sugar, to which I add about 1.2 liters of water to make up a heavy syrup. Once the sugar is dissolved it gets 6 cups of bee-pro. I cant take credit for the ratios, picked them up off of an old post here by Michael Palmer, then scaled it to fit making small batches in the stand mixer.

The mix comes out initially rather runny, about the consistency of a chocolate cake dough. Leave it sit overnight and it thickens considerably, gets to be about the consistency of peanut butter. If you want to make small patties instead of just scooping it into the segments of the queen castle, that's easy too. Set a sheet of wax paper down, scoop the mixture onto it then another sheet of wax paper and take the rolling pin to flatten it out at the thickness you want. Cuts easily into any size you want with a pizza cutter.

Not an efficient way to do a large number, but a quick and easy way to do a few for the queen castles.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

grozzie2 said:


> quick and easy way to do a few for the queen castles.


I believe that DLS is trying to feed pollen supplement mixed in sugar syrup such that it remains totally liquid.


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## DirtyLittleSecret (Sep 10, 2014)

AstroBee said:


> I believe that DLS is trying to feed pollen supplement mixed in sugar syrup such that it remains totally liquid.


AB-Correct.

Already have a pollen supplement recipe that they are happy with. Just dealing within the limitations of these 4-2 frame QC's. It'd be a lot easier to just add a tablespoon of something like Ultra Bee but see references of settling and clogging jar feeders.


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

I make up my own simple pollen supplement, to feed a cell builder (five frame nuc) I add about a fist size of sub to the equal amount of syrup. It gives a very liquid sticky mess, which I work into a empty comb with a paint brush. It's devoured within 24 hours.


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