Feeding HiveAlive Max Boost Pollen

• #1- Why HiveAlive? What’s the deal with that stuff?

• #2- Feeding HiveAlive pollen supplement at the right time!

• #3- Put it in your hives the right way.

Task #1: Why HiveAlive? What’s the big deal?

It’s already a well-known thing that in the late winter and early spring that when pollen begins to come into the hive, as foragers begin to find things like Maple, Willow and other sources, that the queen really starts to amp up her egg-laying rate. Why? Because the colony has the resources to support more and more bees!

You know what that means! More eggs being laid by the queen means spring growth in the colony’s population of worker bees and eventually drones as well. This is a time of expansion and swarms!

So how does HiveAlive Pollen patties tie into this concept? Well, it’s a pollen supplement designed to do the very same thing as natural pollen but with a BOOST! Here’s what this amazing supplements boasts:

#1- They have two options: It comes in 4% or 15% irradiated USA pollen. I wondered what in the world irradiated pollen is and here’s what I found: Basically it’s pollen that has been exposed to a certain amount of Gamma radiation to neutralize pathogens like AFB, Chalkbrood, Viruses and things like that. It’s pretty much a way to provide the cleanest pollen possible to us beekeepers so that we are helping our bees; not hindering them.

I just bought three boxes of the 15% pollen patties. How did I choose between 4% and 15%? Well, it was very scientifical (my wife invented that word)- I just figured that more was better! And they come in 1lb patties, 10 in a box.

#2- HiveAlive pollen patties boast superior honey bee’ nutrition because it has been enriched (mixed in the ingredients) with HiveAlive Liquid Concentrate which is another product that they offer for adding to liquid feed. I used it last year and was happy with the results but don’t have any numbers for you. This boost adds additional bioactives to enhance the nutritional profile of their product. Bioactives are healthy things that help honey bee gut health which includes digestion. I use the Liquid to help battle Nosema.

I’ve always heard that with humans as well as honey bees that when the gut is healthy, the person/bee is healthy too.

#3- The HiveAlive Advantage: With a full dose of HiveAlive Liquid per patty, they say that their patties have been scientifically proven to boost colony population, brood production and honey production. Thus the reason for adding it in late-winter/early spring. It gives the beekeeper that much desired head-start on the season to build their bees up for the honey flow.

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Here are the Key Bioactives in HiveAlive that result in healthier bees and fast consumption:

• Proprietary blend enhancing amino acids, lipids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals content.

• Contains prebiotics, enzymes, and phenolic compounds.

• Rapid absorption for immediate bee benefits.

• The pollen and addition of HiveAlive Liquid ensure very rapid consumption.

• Less chance of Small Hive Beetle. (I like this one but I don’t know what makes this true?)

• Ideal for limited pollen periods like cold spring days, dearths, or fall.

• They can even work on the patties (eat them) on cold, rainy days that they cannot get out and forage!

Task #2: Feeding HiveAlive pollen supplement at the right time!

HiveAlive has already taken the guesswork out of this one! They recommend feeding when pollen may be scarce or in emergencies like spring, dearths, or fall when little is available.

I just finished giving all of my beehives one of HiveAlive’s 15% pollen patties. Here’s why:

• It’s Late-Winter. By late winter, if the weather permits then It may be imperative to check your colonies food stores. It’s possible that they may need supplemented with food and pollen patties, giving them that chance to survive. This is also a great time to do a visual check of their population size. It’s not necessary to remove any frames, just count the number of frames of bees you see on the top bars.

• Why 15% pollen? HiveAlive offers 4% and 15% pollen patties. I chose the latter because there’s MORE pollen and when pollen begins to influx into the colony, the queen picks up her egg-laying rate. I want my bees to boost up their population as quickly as possible in order to have a larger honey crop. Perhaps 4% would be more appropriate going into Fall when the egg-laying rate is decreasing. #ProTip

• I don’t know their food status. Last year was a poor year for nectar. Although I did Fall Feeding, I suspect that with the oddly warmer winter weather that my area has had lately that my bees have been depleting their winter food quickly. Pollen patties will give them something to live on until I can get around and offer them Liquid Feed, to which I will also add HiveAlive’s Liquid Supplement.

• Growing bees means that I can Split sooner. One of my primary goals this year is to balance growing bees and making honey with growing bees and making splits. Boosting my bees population should help me with both of these goals.

Here is a YouTube Channel video to help you with this:

Learn more about Fall Feeding your Colonies here!

Learn more about How to make Splits here!

Learn more about Checking your Splits for Laying Queens here!

Task #3: Put HiveAlive in your colonies the right way.

Here’s the easy way to think about using HiveAlive and it’s something that my mentor told me often:

Okay, so you don’t necessarily have to put them in your hives right away and if that’s the case, then place them in the freezer. I put mine in the colonies within four days of getting them in the mail as the weather allowed. You do not want them to dry out.

There are only two reasons I can see for putting them in the freezer:

• Perhaps HiveAlive has been out of stock (it’s pretty popular stuff) and you got an email that it’s finally back in stock and so you stock up.

• The other reason is that you bought it out of season (middle of winter) and just want to have it ready for spring time.

By putting it in your hives right away, you will be accomplishing three very important tasks:

1. Taking immediate action for colony growth. As a spring-time supplement, getting it on your bees the sooner, the better! Growth is what spring is all about in beekeeping.

2. Visually assessing the size of each colony. Opening each hive to give them a patty will give you a chance to visually see how many frames of bees you have. It could be 1 frame(crap!), 2 or 4 or possibly even 8 frames(perfect)!

3. Analyzing whether you need to give them Liquid Feed sooner rather than later. While you’re in there giving a pollen patty, seeing how many bees you have, you also have the chance to judge how much honey they have left (if any). This will tell you to either feed them liquid feed SOONER or later.

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom 😉 See you next time!

Jonathan Hargus//The Hive Doctor