POLLEN TRAP REVIEW
Ruth Arp, who lives in Eldridge, loaned me this trap. Her son
Dennis is a commercial beekeeper in Arizona with 1200 hives. He
runs these traps on all of his colonies and keeps them on year
round. Ruth keeps them on her colonies but takes them off in the
fall.
This is a homemade trap. The outside part being made from a 6
5/8 honey super. The main feature I see on this trap is that is
has no stripper screen that the bees have to pass through. I would
think this would result is less pollen being collected. The advantage
being that you don't have to periodically change the entrance
to give the bees free flight. There is about an inch of open space
between the top of the drawer and the top of the box. I would
think the bees would tend to build comb on the bottom bars to
fill up this space.
I plan to build a few of these traps to try them out. I have a
problem with a couple of yards that get too much pollen and the
combs get plugged with it. My primary goal is to save the combs.
Pollen collection is secondary.
I am pretty ignorant about collecting pollen. If there is somebody
out there who has some experience with it, write an article and
send in some pictures of your trap.
Submitted by Phil Ebert
Central Iowa Beekeepers
Association Auction
The Central Iowa Beekeepers Association annual auction
will be April 17th, starting at 10 am.
Lunch will be available.
Location : Ellsworth Gustafson’s
5917 SE 6th Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50317
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A NEW LOCATION FROM PREVIOUS YEARS.
Directions: From the 65/5 bypass,
exit to Vandalia Rd. Take Vandalia Rd. to 60th St. Turn left on
60th and proceed to 6th St. and turn left onto 6th, Ellsworth’s
is on the right.
If coming thru Altoona, proceed south thru town past Hy-Vee. Cross
163 and proceed south. At SE 6th St turn and follow to Ellsworth’s.
