so hello this is frederick dunn and we're taking a look at the backyard this time of year
november the 11th a year ago at this time we had snow everywhere and if you look at the environment
in the background there's no more pollen there's no more nectar but what we do have is a surplus
of foragers in the apiary so normally on a warm day like this which by the way it hits
62 degrees fahrenheit which is 17 celsius the bees forage when they can't find what they need
they follow the path of least resistance and generally that can be another hive of bees
and they'll raid a colony and rob them out so robbing pressure right now is very high
so what's that yellow substance right there that is ultra b dry pollen substitute for man lake it
is on egg cartons because i find that egg cartons allow the bees to get their footing really well
now these bees have not forgotten the scent of dry pollen sub because i walked out the back
door of my garage carrying a bucket that had no lid and i wasn't 20 feet across the yard when
i was being followed by a bunch of hungry foragers so they were diving into the bucket before i can
even use the ladle and scoop out a couple of pounds here which is all it really is it looks
like a lot because we're close and we're shooting in slow motion but why would i do that i don't
feed dry pollen sub inside the hives i also don't feed liquid syrup inside the hives this time of
year because it's going to get cold snow is going to hit today we're going to have a lot of wind
but what this does is give those foragers something to do see they have the pollen
packs on their hind legs but it's not pollen at all remember it's a substitute not as good as what
they would get from flowers but there's no flowers remember so it's a substitute not as nutritionally
fantastic as actual pollen from flowers but we're doing a couple of things here we're giving them
some protein so they can you know use it on a little bit of brew that they might have this time
of year it is not going to kick off a big brood boost which is not what we really want in winter
all i want to do is occupy these foragers give them something to do besides rob their neighbor
so aside from the dry pollen sub which is working great we're going to get high winds today so i'm
going to try to get some slow-motion video of the foragers fighting the wind and of course the dry
pond sub blowing in their little faces but you can see how they groom off the pollen get it all
over their hair scream it back to their corbicula their hind legs they get the pollen balls on there
and they fly back there were bees in this pile had developed balls and were headed back in less than
five minutes but what about the nectar there's no nectar in the environment so here's the other part
this is pro suite and i put it out in these clear 32 ounce bottles that i found on amazon they're
like a dollar a piece dirt cheap and then the feeder base comes from another new inventor here
that is selling their feeders and i'll put a link so you can learn more about that but rather than
the dark green bottles that came with that i use these clear ones just so i can see what's going on
and pro suite again is just like the consistency of honey so when they go out and get this
carbohydrate and bring it back they'll be able to consume it straight away so again this isn't
going to boost you know stored resources in the hive very much because this is open feeding
all i'm trying to do is divert would-be robbers from attacking their neighbors
and instead giving them something that they can focus on fill their honey crops with and take it
back look at that little bubble going up just like an old bottle of prel concentrate shampoo
and you see a little wasp there on the right side and there goes a wasp flying it's going to go
right to the left of the screen carrying a fly so they're still getting protein in the environment
so cut down on some robbing in your backyard apiary and maybe put some dry pollen sub out
if you have it if you don't you might want to get it because it'll help you in spring there isn't
strong evidence that dry pollen sub will boost colony health going into winter but there is
evidence that will boost their health and expand in spring before resources are available again
so thanks for watching pro suite and ultra b dry pollen subs