Protein patty 300g (10.5%) Dulcofruct® - (Single)

01 · WHY 10.5 %

The level recommended for the Iberian bee

To build up colonies of the Iberian bee, the good-practice manual by Pajuelo Consultores (Spain) recommends a small patty of around 10 % protein, in portions of about 250 g a week: with higher percentages, this bee may be slow to take it. This patty is in that line: 10.5 % crude protein in a 300 g piece, one hive's weekly portion.

The manufacturer's data sheet declares the bee's ten essential amino acids, and the patty carries what a home-made yeast patty needs adding separately: vegetable oil and vitamin C. It is a complementary feed: it backs up field pollen when it runs short, it does not replace it.

02 · WHEN TO GIVE IT

Six weeks before you need the bees

The effect shows in the next generation, not in the bee that eats it: that is why you start about six weeks before the flow you are aiming for —two brood cycles— and keep going until nectar and pollen come in. At one patty a week, that is six patties per hive. Its moments are the end of winter, where the manufacturer places it, nucs, pollen gaps and autumn, when the winter bees are raised. Outside those windows it is not needed: bees do not need feeding all year round, and the patty neither cures anything nor replaces varroa control.

03 · HOW TO PUT IT ON

Over the brood, and in a Layens make room

Take off the plastic film, open the paper on one side and lay the patty with that side down on the top bars of the brood frames, or no more than 10 cm from the brood: that is where the nurse bees can reach it and the warmth of the cluster keeps it soft. On nucs, break it up: a small colony cannot keep a whole patty moist. In a Layens, with the top bars butted together and ventilation in the roof, it dries out sooner: open a gap between two frames behind the brood, slide it in and cover the slot. If no nectar is coming in, feed syrup alongside it.

⚠ PRECAUTIONS

Do not give it during a flow or with honey supers on: what goes up into the super ends up in the honey you are going to jar. Take the remains out before supering.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The first time, try it on about ten hives before buying for the whole apiary, and mark any that leave it untouched: the manual reads that as a sign of a queen, disease or genetics problem. Store it somewhere dry and ventilated, between 10 and 25 °C and out of the sun.