Pollen Substitute

[Lburou]

Lazy, I have always ASSumed that pollen substitute had about the same shelf life as flour, which is no more than 12 months.  I freeze, or at least put in the refrigerator, for storage.  I always freeze pollen patties.  Am I the only one?   

[riverbee]

i freeze extra pollen patties as well lee.  scott i may try that ultra bee at some point.  mann lake does sell it in a 10 pd pail. i am going to send them an email and ask them what the shelf life is on it.

[LazyBkpr]

That might be good info to have..   No point in feeding three year old sub if they are getting no benefit!

[riverbee]

scott, will post back when i hear back from them........

also see mann lake now has a 1 pd cannister!

[Lburou]

That two gallon pail ultra bee comes in is a multi-tasker. 

[Yankee11]

I have a 10lb pale of Ultra Bee, I'll look and see if it ha a expiration.

It small like lemon and the bees love it. They just roll in it. I put some out today, it was 64 degrees ans sunny here today.

[brooksbeefarm]

On sunny days working in my shop with the door open, i see bees fly into the saw dust pile under the table saw and roll in it , they must get something from it?? Jack

[Yankee11]

Lol, Yea they remind me of small kids rolling in a sand pile. I didn't any expiration on mine today.

It was upper 60's all weekend. I put out 5 gallons of syrup yesterday and put Ultra bee out both days.

The 5 gallons was empty at 3pm today.

 I may have bees swarming by Christmas. 

[riverbee]

yankee, enjoyed the pic, thank you!  and the description of 'small kids rolling in a sand pile'... too funny!

if there is no expiration date maybe no expiration on this?  dunno?  i sent mann lake an email, when i hear back, probably monday, i will post back with what they say about expiration, if any.

52 degrees here today..........unheard of, we are usually buried in snow with freezing temps, and the bees were flying.

[LazyBkpr]

Bees flying here too, was above 55..  Last year it ws already below 0..   Thinking this year the bees wont go 5 months with no cleansing flight!

[riverbee]

heard back from mann lake about the shelf life of ultra bee and recommendations:

"Ultra Bee Dry should be stored some place cool and dry.  If you have freezer space, that’s best.  Keep in mind that dogs and mice will be attracted to Ultra Bee.  Probably not a concern in 1 lbs. and 10 lbs. pails, but something to think about in 50 lbs. bags.  Also, store away from strong odors.  You don’t want it to smell like chemicals. 

I recommend buying what will be used in the next 6 to 9 months.  Ultra Bee will still be nutritious for a year or more, but palatability can suffer and protein will start to degrade."

good info to know!

[Lburou]

Thanks for the effort riverbee, its important to know for sure. 

[Ray4852]

Its cheaper to by the 50lb bag. I store megabee for two years in the freezer.

[LazyBkpr]

Keep it in the garage on a shelf, no way I can fit that in the freezer.. so It may be time to start looking up alternatives...
    Thank you for the effort to find that out.. it never occurred to me a dry powder might have an expiration date!

[riverbee]

who has freezer space?!.....LOL!, right now  i have some pollen patties, some winter feed patties and most of all beeswax in ziploc bags i haven't cleaned up yet, need a separate chest freezer for all this stuff!

[Lburou]

I made the mistake of ordering two ten pound pails of ultrabee last fall (on sale for $19.95).  I put it in all sorts of airtight containers and tucked them in freezers and refrigerators (we have two big refers and two little ones).  The baggie is real easy to stuff in the open spots.  Took some, in jars, for door prizes at the bee Club.  But that won't work for a 50 pound bag Lazy.  ;-)

[riverbee]

agreed on the 50 lb bag for scott, trying to stuff it in ziploc bags in the freezer.........LOL!

you all would totally laugh if you saw my one and only freezer..........it does have all of our frozen goods in it, meats, veggies, etc, but it sure does have a lot of extra ziploc bags in there for bee stuff! some things just annoy a spouse when things aren't orderly, or don't understand WHY it's in the freezer taking up space..........LOL!

[iddee]

BUMP