Micronised soy flour 65% protein

01 · WHEN IT IS NEEDED

Protein is not a supplement: it is where brood comes from

Nectar provides energy; protein comes from pollen, and out of it come the nurse bee's hypopharyngeal glands, the jelly she feeds the larva with and the body reserves of the winter bee. When no pollen is coming in and the colony keeps brooding — the February-March start-up, a gap between flows, recovery after a setback — brood is sustained by consuming the nurses' own bodies. That is where a protein substitute comes in. And the other way round: if pollen is coming in, the patty is redundant — bees prefer the real thing and leave it untouched.

02 · NOT ORDINARY SOY FLOUR

The process is worth as much as the protein figure

Defatted feed-grade soy flour runs at 44-48 % protein; this one reaches 65 % because it undergoes an aqueous-alcoholic extraction that removes the soluble carbohydrates. That fraction also carries away the antinutritional factors — trypsin inhibitors, oligosaccharides, saponins, β-conglycinin — which the bee digests poorly in conventional soy and which are part of why a home-made patty with cheap flour just sits in the feeder. Micronising below 180 µm does the rest: the powder blends into the mix instead of separating out into lumps at the bottom.

03 · HOW IT IS USED

A small fraction of the patty, not the base

Protein goes in at a low proportion: the base of a patty is still sugar — inverted syrup and dextrose — and the soy is the fraction that supplies the amino acid profile. Specific recipes are on our blog and in the answered questions on this page. It combines well with brewer's yeast, which brings a different amino acid and vitamin profile; many beekeepers use both in the same mix. Two field warnings: a dry patty does not get eaten — it has to stay plastic, not brittle — and whatever is left over in the feeder ends up with wax moth, so put in only what the colony will clear in a week or two.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Supplied in 5 kg and 25 kg sacks. It is classified as a feed raw material under regulation (EU) No 68/2013 — an ingredient, not a complete diet, and no full replacement for pollen: it supplies protein, not the lipids and sterols of natural pollen. Keep the sack closed, dry and away from heat.