Bee drone cone escape for pollen traps

01 · WHY IT IS NEEDED

The grid does not let a drone through

A pollen trap works because its grid forces the worker to squeeze through, and in that rubbing she drops her pollen loads. But the same grid is a barrier to anything larger: the drone does not pass. Without an alternative exit they build up behind the grid, get in the way of the foragers and end up affecting the harvest itself. The escape gives them a side route: the funnel shape leads them from the inside to a narrow mouth they leave through — and cannot come back through.

02 · THE DIRECTION MATTERS

Wide base inwards, narrow mouth outwards

Fitted the wrong way round it does nothing, so it is worth checking: the wide base faces the inside of the trap and the narrow end outwards. That geometry is what makes the drone find the way out and not the way back. And like any narrow passage inside a hive, it gets propolised: check it each time you empty the drawer and clear out compacted pollen, because a blocked escape stops being an exit and goes back to being a barrier.

03 · MIND THE VIRGIN QUEEN

What leaves through here does not come back

This is the consequence to keep in mind before fitting the trap, and it is not limited to drones: the grid does not let the queen through either. With a laying queen it is no problem, because she does not leave. But a virgin queen going out to mate will not be able to get back in, and the colony loses her. That is why a pollen trap is not fitted to a colony raising a queen, nor during a requeening, nor on a nucleus with a queen to mate. On a settled colony with a laying queen, that risk does not exist.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a part for a wooden pollen trap with a compatible side housing; do not assume it is universal for other traps without checking the fit first. If you need the outer diameter and length of the tube to verify it goes into yours, write to us and we will confirm them with the part in front of us. And a management note that goes with the whole system: the drawer collects the pollen, it does not dry it — empty it often and dry it separately, because fresh pollen does not keep in the tray.