# Brood builder by Dadant



## pom51 (Jul 28, 2008)

never used that i have feed mega bee which i thing is about the same and i like it


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

No experience, but it's on sale right now. Good price. I'm using mega bee also. I'm also interested as the sale price makes it very attractive right now.


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

Anyone?


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

In the Aug 2010 issue of ABJ, Zachary Huang discusses bee nutrition. He points out that about 40% of the sugars in soybeans are toxic to bees. He goes on to say that Brood Builder® and Bee Pro® are soy based. He doesn’t specifically state that they aren’t OK but doesn’t include them in any of his analysis. Take it for what it’s worth.


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## Galaxy (Jun 10, 2007)

Here is a link to Professor Huang's article:

http://www.extension.org/pages/Honey_Bee_Nutrition

It's very interesting reading.


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

His article is great. The reason I am asking is that they have a 10 pack of patties w/ HBH in them for $15. I do not think that I can make them for that, just in sugar costs alone. 

Mike


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

I suscribe to the theory that in life you get what you pay for and pay for what you get. But I am still one of the worst bargain hunters. In this case I will wait until others have tried this feed and approve of it. 
Remember Dadant developed and sells duragilt. Nuff said.


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

valleyman said:


> Remember Dadant developed and sells duragilt. Nuff said.


Reason enough. I will change my order to some Mega bee when I get up there to p/u. 

Mike


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## dixie1 (Jun 27, 2010)

since I'm very new here, and don't have a clue yet as to what I'm doing....can somebody tell me what duragilt is ?


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## Peter (Mar 28, 2009)

Duragilt is a plastic based foundation made by Dadant. It has metal strengtheners on the edges of the deep foundation and was claimed that this meant you didn't need to wire it.
The real issue with it is that the cell starters are wax based applied to a smooth film of plastic and once the cell layouts disappeared the bees ignored the foundation. Like may others when I used duragilt I found that even new the bees didn't like it and tended to build burr comb islands attached at points to the foundation and also to the frames next to them. This made it impossible to lift a frame without the foundation in the frame next to it collapsing. I have several hundred sheets of duragilt that I am just about to throw away after having removed and replaced with wax this year and say thankfully that I have finally eradicated from all my frames.


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## beegee (Jun 3, 2003)

Every once in a while i run across an old Duragilt frame in my hives. I used it when i first started beekeeping 10 years ago. It's usually the one with bare spots and lots of brace and burr comb. I throw it away as I find it.

It's easy to install and sounds good in theory, but my bees never figured out how to use it.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

40% of the sugars 
Or, 4%
Ernie


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

BEES4U said:


> 40% of the sugars
> Or, 4%
> Ernie


From the article:
_About 40% of the sugars found in soybeans are toxic to bees, and therefore care should be taken when using soybeans as a pollen substitute_.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

1.3. Toxic Substances in Nectar and Sugar Supplement 
Adult bees can utilize glucose, fructose, sucrose, trehalose, maltose, and melezitose, but bees are unable to digest rhaminose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, lactose, raffinose, melibiose or stachyose. Most of these sugars are also toxic to honey bees. About 40% of sugars found in soybeans are toxic to bees, and therefore care should be taken when using soybeans as a pollen substitute. 

40% of what base #, number?
It's the stachyrose % by weight that can be of concern.
But, the stachyrose is diluted down so much by the sugars and other food stuffs that are added to the total mix.
Ernie


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

yes - and aspirin is so toxic to humans that it would never be approved today. We ingest toxic substances all the time - good thing we have a liver. I have not seen any compelling data so this is just shooting from the hip. If someone had a really large study and found the health of the bees quantitatively reduced due to soy protein consumption then I would still wonder about the cost-benefit arguments. I normally shy away from manmade foods of any kind assuming they are inferior to natured offerings but it is really difficult to get good, cheap pollen.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

This might be of interest:
http://www.soyfoods.com/nutrition/soyflour.html#anchor521268
The above information states that the sugar content of soy flour is 12 gm/100gm
But, it does not give the brake down of the sugar.
Ernie


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## plaztikjezuz (Apr 22, 2010)

i used brood builder this spring, my bees ate it up and they are doing well, this is my first year and i also use duragilt, but then dadant is only 30 minutes away. so they do get a lot of my business. i have about 6 more patties and that my be the fall/winter feeding?

both my hives have duragilt and one is doing the funky comb drawing and the other is fine. 

i have pretty much decided for the size of my operation and how little tim i have to just buy my frame assembled with plastic foundation. it is just under $19 more to buy them assembled when i buy 60 frames. granted i am picking them up.


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## cow pollinater (Dec 5, 2007)

Soy is used to boost protien content, not sugar content. Sugars are easy to rinse out when they proccess the soy so I doubt there's tons of soy sugar in Dadant's patties.
I use Brood Builder and haven't had any problems. They gobble it up and look great. If it's poisonous, someone forgot to tell my bees.:shhhh: If you're doing this as a business you'd be hard pressed to find the same performance versus cost deal from any of the bee supply companies.


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## PARKBOY (Apr 30, 2010)

kbfarms said:


> No experience, but it's on sale right now. Good price. I'm using mega bee also. I'm also interested as the sale price makes it very attractive right now.


I looked on the site but didnt see them onsale. What is the sale price? Thanks


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## valleyman (Nov 24, 2009)

i have pretty much decided for the size of my operation and how little tim i have to just buy my frame assembled with plastic foundation. it is just under $19 more to buy them assembled when i buy 60 frames. granted i am picking them up.[/QUOTE]

Be careful about buying them assembled. From my experience not everyone uses glue when assembing their frames. In fact most don't. Too much time and expense. They will come apart when you try to pry them out of propolis.


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

In clearance section. Carton of 40 is $32.


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## plaztikjezuz (Apr 22, 2010)

valleyman said:


> i have pretty much decided for the size of my operation and how little tim i have to just buy my frame assembled with plastic foundation. it is just under $19 more to buy them assembled when i buy 60 frames. granted i am picking them up.


Be careful about buying them assembled. From my experience not everyone uses glue when assembing their frames. In fact most don't. Too much time and expense. They will come apart when you try to pry them out of propolis.[/QUOTE]

dadant says they use glue, top and side staples.
luckily my girls are not too thick in laying down the propolis.


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

kbfarms said:


> In clearance section. Carton of 40 is $32.


Ya, but no HBH in them. If they have some of the old style at that price I will pick some up for the winter.

Mike


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