Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Spain who dedicate their hives to pollen rather than honey collection and who make an
excellent living from it.
Pollen collection should, however, be considered only on good, strong hives during
seasons when it abounds. Bees collect pollen avidly in the spring when the colony is
expanding rapidly, but pollen may be abundant at other times of the year, depending
on the local flora.
Beekeepers and scientists have long debated whether taking too much pollen affects
a hive's performance, but it seems self-evident that the bees will step up their pollen
foraging to counteract the loss at the expense of collecting honey. Further, the colony's
pollen-store level could dip below that required for food, and so the colony could
dwindle.
Trapping pollen
Pollen is harvested in pollen traps, which are placed on the hive for this purpose. A basic
pollen trap is simply a screen through which the bees have to scramble to get into the
hive. As they scramble through the screen, the small pollen loads many are carrying are
pulled off, and these drop into a specially constructed drawer below the screen.
A pollen trap should catch between 60 and 80% of all the pollen bought into the hive.
Some beekeepers believe that traps that retain 60% of the pollen may be kept on the
hives throughout the active season, whereas others believe this places too much stress
on the colony and that, after two weeks of use, the traps should be removed for at least
a week before being replaced.
Traps should effectively exclude all debris (such as insect parts, wax moths, etc.), should
be easy to operate and should protect the pollen from sunlight, moisture and any forms
of adulteration.
Pollen traps are either front- or bottom-mounted. Front-mounted traps were the first
to be used, and these are still employed by commercial beekeepers in many parts of
the world. While front-mounted traps are easy to install and remove, bottom-mounted
traps are perhaps more efficient and effective.
