Collecting pollen is fun, it should not interfere with honey production or weaken the hive, and can substantially increase your income from beekeeping.
In temperate climates, such as we enjoy in most of the United States, most pollen is produced in the spring when trees such as willow, and maple produce tremendous quantities. In many parts of the United States, there is also a substantial fall flow from goldenrod and other late flowering plants. Many beekeepers collect pollen for just 2-3 weeks in the spring and again for a similar time in the fall. This may be sufficient for those beekeepers that want relatively small quantities for their personal use and to furnish to friends, or who collect pollen to feed to their bees for fast build up or to produce queens. Other beekeepers recognize the premium prices paid for pollen and many collect hundreds of pounds a year to sell to others for human or animal consumption.
The Sundance™ pollen trap is ideally designed for both the casual and more serious pollen collector. Its overall durability and the ingenious device for switching between collecting and non-collecting mode makes it ideal for all levels of beekeeping.
Before putting the pollen trap in place on the hive, make certain that the top of the front board is flush with the top of the pollen trap sides, and the collection drawer is inserted and is right side up. Aligning the black marks on an unpainted trap will insure that the drawer is inserted correctly. If the trap has been painted, the top of the trap is that covered by the Luan board and the open part of the drawer should face that.
If you are not going to have a pollen trap on every hive, select the strongest based on the amount of landing board activity. Remove the hive bodies from the bottom board and set them aside. With the eyebolt facing you and the front of the bottom board, place the pollen trap on the bottom board rails so that the pollen trap is flush with the back of the bottom board. Check to see if there is an entrance below the pollen trap's front board and the bottom board. Put the hive bodies on top of the pollen trap. With duct tape, firmly seal all hive entrances other than at the bottom board.
Start checking your drawers for pollen on a daily basis. Take along a plastic bag and dump pollen from the drawer into the bag. Replace the drawer. In the spring and fall, you should be collecting between one and two pounds a day, from every hive. Collecting over two pounds a day is not uncommon. As soon as you get home, pour the pollen from the collecting bag into a larger bag in the freezer. Freezing protects the pollen from mold and kills any wax moth eggs. (If you are not using a Sundance trap, your pollen also contains live Varroa mites, and freezing also kills them.) Freezing also reduces the moisture content in the pollen, using the same physics as those that produce freezer burn on meat.
If you have pollen traps on more than one hive, you may notice that some hives collect significantly less pollen. You may also notice that a hive that has been collecting significant amounts of pollen suddenly is collecting less than neighboring hives. Either circumstance is a
sign that something is wrong with the hive. It may have over-wintered poorly, may have lost its queen, might have a heavy infection of Varroa, etc. Carefully inspect such hives and take corrective measures.
Whenever possible, you need to empty the trap daily. However, the extensive screening on the top and bottom of the Sundance trap maximizes ventilation so if you cannot get to the trap every day, the pollen will be unlikely to mold. If you live in an area where corn is grown, we strongly suggest that you set your traps so they will not collect pollen while the tassels are releasing pollen. Corn pollen is said to be of poor nutrition, and bees do not normally collect it. However, pollen traps sometimes prevent the bees from storing excessive pollen, so they are more likely to collect corn pollen when open traps are on the hive. Corn pollen is so fine it can actually seal the mesh on the bottom of the collection drawer, making a mess. If possible, avoid collecting it.
How pollen is processed after freezing depends on its next use and customer preferences. Many apiarists have demonstrated the enormous benefits of feeding pollen to over-wintered bees, nucs, and hives used for producing queen cells. Pollen use in this manner does not need cleaning. Mix with 1:1 sugar water or corn syrup until it is the consistency of dough. Form into patties the thickness of pizza, and re-freeze or use immediately. Over-wintered hives can profitably use pollen patties 4-6 weeks before red maple bloom in the area, regardless of temperature. Such hives will have enormous spring populations and can be used for extra splits. When feeding pollen patties, put the patties on top of a layer of wax paper and put the wax paper on top of the frames.
Thousands of pounds of pollen are sold for feeding animals ranging from thoroughbred horses to laboratory mice. This pollen also does not need cleaning, but may need drying. Pollen sold for human consumption does need cleaning and may need drying.
Some large collectors of pollen accomplish all their pollen drying while it is frozen. Virtually everything that can be frozen contains moisture. As very cold air is also very dry, the moisture in the frozen material wants to migrate into the air. Losing moisture in this manner is what causes what is termed freezer burn. Some commercial collectors of pollen leave their bags open while in the freezer and when they daily add pollen; they also stir the pollen inside the bags. This causes moisture to migrate from the pollen, therefore drying it. We understand that the last pollen is allowed about 3 days after being put into the freezer until it is considered "dry". After the 3 days, the entire contents of the bag are taken from the freezer and sealed in regular five-gallon buckets.
Others who collect large amounts of pollen spread it into screened trays so that it is about 2" deep, and then leave it in a room with good air movement for 24 hours. When sufficiently dry, pollen gently pressed between the thumb and forefinger will stay in a loose ball rather than disintegrate into powder.
Many buyers of pollen for human consumption will accept it unclean for about $ 1.00 less a pound than the cleaned pollen. During 1999, cleaned pollen wholesaled for around $4.50 a pound. We are not aware of any manufacturer of pollen cleaning equipment, but seed cleaning equipment works fine. Unfortunately, it is difficult to locate small size seed cleaning equipment.
To clean pollen (or seeds) it is necessary to eliminate the stray chaff that accumulates. Fortunately, the Sundance trap accumulates very little debris. If the pollen is introduced into a gentle air stream, the pollen will quickly fall and the chaff will blow a distance away. One beekeeper built a cabinet with a floor and two sides, but no top. Dimensions were about six feet long, two feet wide and two feet high. Inside he put an electric fan and baffles fastened to the floor. The baffles were about one foot high and were spaced every foot.
With practice he could pour pollen into the air stream from the fan so that all the pollen would land between the first couple of baffles, but the chaff, being lighter, would blow further and settle into the end baffles.
You have purchased the finest pollen trap in the world. With a little care over each winter, it will last for many years and we hope it gives much joy.
Collecting pollen is fun, it should not interfere with honey production or weaken the hive, and can substantially increase your income from beekeeping.