Plastic pollen trap

01 · HOW IT TAKES THE POLLEN

The grid strips the loads as she squeezes through

The forager comes back with the pollen pellets on her hind legs and, to get in, she has to pass through the central grid. The gap is sized so the bee gets through but the loads do not: they come off and drop into the drawer below. The bee goes in unharmed and heads out for more. On the sides there are two escape holes: drones and the queen do not fit through the grid, so they get their own way out — without them you end up with dead drones piling at the entrance.

02 · WHERE IT FITS

It needs a flat front and a landing board

The trap rests and hooks on at the front, so the hive has to offer it a flat surface and a landing board to sit on:

And here is the warning that comes up again and again from people already using it: leave a gap and the bees will find it. They get in underneath or behind the drawer and the trap stops collecting. When fitting it, line the holes up exactly and close off any slack between trap and entrance — it happens most with floors that did not come with the hive, such as Nicot ones. It is not a manufacturing fault: a pollen trap only works if it is the only way in.

03 · THE DRAWER AIRS, IT DOES NOT DRY

Collected pollen comes out every day

The drawer is ventilated, and that helps the load not to sweat while it is out in the field. But airing is not drying: fresh pollen carries a lot of moisture and in two warm days it ferments or goes mouldy inside the drawer itself. The routine that works is emptying it daily — or every other day in cool weather — and taking it to the freezer or the drier. One more reason to pass by every day: a full drawer attracts ants.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is plastic, with the good and the bad: it washes with water and absorbs nothing, and it weighs 550 g, but it is not built for fitting and removing it daily across many hives. If you will be moving it constantly, or working with gloves and in a hurry, the wooden one stands up to the handling better.