Ultra Bee® Dry 18.14 kg bag

01 · WHAT THE 50 % MEANS

It is the pure ingredient, not the finished patty

This figure is not to be compared with that of a ready-made patty. The 50 % is the protein of the powder, of the ingredient before mixing; a patty formulated from it lands around 15 %, because it also carries syrup and sugar. Both figures are correct and measure different things — flour and bread. If you want to open and lay, look for the patty; if you want to formulate yourself and control the ratio, this sack is it.

02 · THE SACK ARITHMETIC

3.3 kg of patty for every kilo of powder

The maker's formula is 6.8 kg of powder + 6.5 L of glucose/fructose syrup + 5.4 kg of sugar, giving about 22.7 kg of patty. That is 3.3 kg of patty per kilo of powder: the 18.14 kg sack yields some 60 kg of patty, around 132 portions of 454 g. Fed dry at the 680 g per colony per season the maker recommends, the same sack covers about 27 colonies; in practice the share-out is uneven, because fed dry, each colony takes what it wants. Those two numbers are what actually decide which format pays.

03 · DRY OR AS A PATTY

Dry only when they can fly; patty if you want brood

As a powder it goes in an outdoor feeder sheltered from rain and wind, breaking up the crust every day, and it only makes sense at foraging temperatures: the bee has to go out for it. Expect an uneven take-up (some colonies take it by the bucketful, others in the same apiary do not even look at it), and in autumn, for raising winter bees, patty is the better route. As a patty it goes straight onto the central frames, with no crown board in between, between two sheets of baking paper with four or five cuts and the holes facing down. There the nurse bees reach it without leaving the hive, and they are the ones that turn it into jelly for the larvae: that is why the patty is the way to keep the brood going when no pollen is coming in. Whether the colony then grows depends on the weather and on nectar coming in. Portions of 454 g to 1.4 kg depending on colony size.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is hygroscopic: keep the sack closed, use dry utensils and close it again as soon as you measure, because it cakes with ambient moisture. And the rule for protein: you supply it when pollen is not enough — late summer for the winter bees, early spring before fresh pollen comes in, or after a split — not all year round. If varied pollen is coming in, this is surplus.