Apipollen Bee pollen substitute (powder)

01 · NO POLLEN, AND THAT IS THE POINT

Pollen collected from another apiary travels with whatever it carried

A substitute contains no natural pollen, and half the reason to use one is right there: pollen collected in someone else's apiary can carry that apiary's spores and viruses. A plant-based substitute closes that route. The other half is consistency: field pollen varies in protein and amino acids with the flora, and in a monoculture or a poor flow it can fall short exactly when the colony needs to raise brood.

02 · THE TWO WAYS TO FEED IT

Dry at 700 g per hive, or 175 g per kilo of paste

As a powder: about 700 g per hive in a perforated container the bees can move through, sheltered from wind and damp. It only makes sense at flying temperatures. As a paste: 175 g of ApiPollen per 825 g of syrup, blended at no more than 40 °C, with the paste in a perforated bag over the frames — the route that reaches the nurse bees without them leaving. Hence the arithmetic: a kilo of powder gives 5.7 kg of paste.

03 · WHAT ELSE IS IN IT

Amino acids, vitamins, minerals and probiotics

The protein fraction is soy and yeast (89.72 % of the formula) and brings the ten essential amino acids — tryptophan, threonine, methionine, histidine, phenylalanine, arginine, isoleucine, valine, lysine and leucine — which is what decides whether a protein is any use: the one that runs short sets the ceiling. It also carries high-oleic oils, plant oils of calendula, chamomile, coriander, yarrow, lemongrass and artichoke, 1.28 % vitamins, a mineral complex and probiotic bacteria. Non-GMO raw materials.

04 · WHICH SIZE DO I NEED?

Pick it by the hives you feed, not by the price of the pack

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Store between −5 and +24 °C, out of the sun and with the container closed; shelf life 12 months. And the protein rule: you supply it when pollen is not enough — late summer, early spring, monoculture — not all year round, and do not leave it in the hive when there is no brood.