Unbleached flour

[LazyBkpr]

   Looking at a cutout I have to do in April and another Beek stopped by, so we spent an hour or so talking...  to make a long story a wee bit shorter, he advised me to use unbleached flour, brewers yeast and pollen sub to feed with..   while I have heard of using brewers yeast, I had not heard of using flour..
   From what I heard, the flour is high in protien and the bees will use it just like pollen or pollen sub..
   I did a search, and found a single you tube vid with a gent who used unbleached flour in  his feed mix..
   Thoughts? Anyone have, or have seen information about this practice?

[iddee]

Haven't heard of using unbleached, but I do use 80% brewers yeast, 10% soy flour, and 10% granulated sugar.

[Crofter]

Wheat flour is mostly starch. Bees dont do a good job of digesting starch. Bees will use it if they have no choice; apparently even wood dust. I think the starch content is why powdered sugar is reccommended, but not "icing sugar" which contains starch to keep it from clumping.

[LazyBkpr]

I have heard that about commercial powdered sugar as well. When I need to make queen candy I powder my own sugar in the blender because of that.    So what happens to all the flour they take back? It gets packed permanently into the cells and becomes unusable?
    Irregardless I think i will stay away from it. Pollen Sub with a bit of real pollen mixed in seems to work very well.
   Being in the heart of soybean country, I might look into the soy flour..
   Is it processed any special way? Can I run a batch of soybeans through the grinder mixer and get the same result?

[Crofter]

I think if you do a search on types of soy flour you may find some info. I think de fatted soy flour and expeller flour are ways of describing some variants. Dont know what the pros and cons are. I dont think you need the high fat of whole soy beans though.

[Jen]

Ya know? It has occured to me that maybe it's soy flour that is in winter patties, not pollen patties. I recieved my supply from B &B honey farms. for the life of me I'm not figuring out what the base in these patties is. I would like to make my own.

[riverbee]

jen, from b & b honey farm's website:
Winter Patties are high in carbohydrates and contain 3% protein to help keep your colonies strong through the winter months. Place on top of frames for feeding (may use the "Formic Acid Rim" for extra feeding area). This product is very easy to use, with no mess.
Nutritional Analysis:
Carbohydrates 4%
Protein 40%
Moisture 7%
Fat 4%
Ash 2%
Fiber 40%
Contains: Sugar, Mega Bee, and Honey-B-Healthy, and/or  Water.

this is what b & b mixes up from the mega b website:
Mega Bee Protein Supplement

mix your own:
Mega Bee Mixing Instructions

[Jen]

Riv- Thanks a bunch! You are the sugar in my tea ~wink~

[tecumseh]

a snip...
 he advised me to use unbleached flour

another snip...
I think de fatted soy flour and expeller flour

tecumseh.... can recall the source but the unbleached flour definitely sounds all wrong to me.  on the other hand the defatted soy flower (I buy this at the grocery store) is I think what you are should be wanting to use.  I have found that if you mix enough sugar with it you could likely get bees to pick up saw dust.