We addressed the lack of pollen by feeding pollen substitute patties, improving the protein intake of the bees. The hope is that this will produce good quality winter bees with plenty of fat bodies, fat bees winter better.
The pollen patty is 10% natural pollen the rest made up of high protein materials such as brewers yeast and soya flour. each colony was given about 1lb each placed on the frame tops and pushed between the frames. I would anticipate that they should be eaten in about a week.
The other problem with the cool weather is that the thymol we use for varroa control needs warm temperatures to work properly so these cool days are not ideal for thymol use. So this year we are using an Austrian control called Hive Clean it's applied between the frames directly onto the bees
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