When there is a shortage of pollen in the bee colony during the breeding period of the bee colony, especially during the early spring and spring breeding period, because of the lack of powder sources outside, we have to rely on our beekeepers to use the depowder to get rid of the pollen collected by the bees, and to prepare it after drying. However, some of our beekeeper friends do not know that honey collection is free from the dried pollen, and it needs to be fermented before feeding the bees before the bees can be fed. I have personally seen some beekeeper friends who collect pollen from the bees to dry and feed the bees directly without fermentation. This is the biggest misunderstanding of some first-time beekeepers.
(1) Why can bees feed bees after fermentation when the pollen collected and dried is not allowed to be fed?
As a nutrient in the pollen, rich in protein, vitamins, trace elements, a variety of nutrients, not the bees it collected back from the pollen naturally brought, but the bees through the collection of pollen containing water, bees and then add honey and bees pharyngeal glands secretion of enzymes, in the nest temperature of the bee colony so that these pollen in the nest through two to three days of full fermentation, the bees will go to eat, from which to be able to get the rich nutrients in the pollen to cultivate bees.
However, as we beekeepers use a depowder at the door of the hive nest, after the pollen is dried, the nutrients in the pollen are not volatilized through fermentation, and the nutrients in these dried pollens are very low. Although the bees also eat and eat, the nutrients obtained are very low, and they cannot reproduce the effect of breeding high-quality young bees with a longer life. That's why we beekeepers ferment before feeding the bees.
(2) Why can the stored pollen spleen be directly added to the bee colony?
As the pollen spleen that we beekeepers extract from the hive, why can we directly add it to the bee colony to breed bees? This is mainly the pollen spleen collected and stored by the bees themselves, which has been fully fermented in the bee colony, and various nutrients have been volatilized out before being taken out by our beekeepers, as a later in the lack of powder in the bee colony, it can be directly added to the bee colony and directly let the bees feed.
(3) How to ferment dried pollen?
As the fermentation process of dried pollen, it is the same as the process of steaming steamed steamed steamed steamed steam
We spread the pollen evenly after use, it is best to use our beekeeper to treat the manual sprayer used by bee mites, after the surface of all the dried pollen particles are uniformly sprayed water for several hours, after the dry pollen is all wet, do not be too wet, then add a certain yeast powder, there is also the use of brewer's yeast powder, but the cost is too high, the general yeast powder on the line, as long as it can play the purpose of pollen fermentation, in maintaining a certain temperature time to let it ferment naturally.
Through the successful fermentation of pollen, there will be a slightly sour and sweet smell, which completely means that the dry pollen fermentation is successful, and the quality can reach the same as the quality of pollen stored on the pollen spleen by bees.
At this time, mixed with high concentration of honey, you can rub it into a strong strip in your hand, just like the strip in the picture below, directly put it on the nest spleen frame for the bees to eat freely. Such pollen strips never dry and moldy inside the hive. But be sure to use a high concentration of forty-two degrees of honey, do not use a high concentration of white syrup instead, so that the fermented pollen kneaded into pollen strips in the hive for a long time will not dry and moldy, until the bees eat, which is why sometimes bees prefer to eat artificially fermented dried pollen, rather than eat the new pollen collected at that time.
(4) In the pollen after fermentation, a small amount of vitamins and trace elements should be added:
Because the pollen in the process of drying and storage, like the vitamin C in the pollen will be destroyed and lost, especially the components of the vitamin B family, are very important trace elements in the process of cultivating bees.
However, vitamin C must not be too large, if the amount of supplementation is too large, when the pollen suddenly stops feeding a large amount of vitamin C, it will be easy to cause bee sepsis. Whether it is vitamin C or other elements as long as it is a trace amount.
Especially in the pollen fed in the spring, the more comprehensive the various nutrients, the healthier the quality of the young bees, the longer the life span will be, and the guarantee of high honey production in spring is obtained. Because this is my personal experience in the process of beekeeping for more than sixty years of my life.