# How do you make pollen substitute.



## Jubilee

This will be my second year of bee keeping so I haven't collected any extra 
pollen and I was wondering if anyone has any pollen substitute recipes and is it a good idea to feed grease patties to the bees in winter?


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## ET1 SS

I have been told to feed grease-patties with pollen in them, in the spring to encourage the queen to build-up a large colony.


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## Michael Bush

Bees raised on substitute are not long lived. Better to let them raise good long lived bees on the real thing...


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## alleyyooper

I disagree with the not useing a substute.
Many of the beekeepers in the clubs I belong to place them on a warm day in late Febuary or early March.
We have booming hives to split as soon as we can buy queens or have drones to mate the ones we raise. 
I have never seen a hive all natural live any longer than a hive we gave pollen patties to.

Kare adds Honey Bee Healthy to this mix but she doesn't have how much written down.

*Pollen-Substitute Patties
Use: Stimulates brood production; apply in late February or early March, Michigan.Recipe:*(Makes a 1.5 pound patty)

*Dry Part
1.5 cups (8oz.) fat-free soy flour
.5 cup (1oz.) Brewer&#8217;s yeast
Sugar Syrup or your honey
1.5 cups (12oz.) granulated sugar
.75 cup (6oz.) Hot water

Mix dry ingredients and add slowly to syrup/honey until mixture is like stiff bread dough. Press between wax paper. Place patty over cluster with wax paper up. I madee a press with 2 pices of 2x6x10 hinged at one end and use a 10 ton jack too do the pressing. I used a hloe saw to cut down a inch and a half and chisled that out for the cavity. Remove one of the paper sides when installing.*
We use this recipe and it does work. by mid April the bees are thick in the hives waiting for splits to be done.

Do not wait to late or you will have hives so strong they will swarm despite your best efforts.

 Al


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## tom j

I have looked for fat-free soy flour in all the stores , and asked in co op's . and they all look at me like I'm nuts ,, now that may bee true to some exstent ,, but thats beside the point .. no one around here knows what I'm talking about ..
so were do you find it ????


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## alleyyooper

Tom we have just gave up and use soy flour. I've always wondered if that was a missprint from the anti fat croud.

 Al


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## Michael Bush

On occasions when I run short of pollen I mix full fat soy flour into the pollen. I have always gone out of my way to make SURE it was FULL fat...


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## Jubilee

Thanks for the recipe.


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