Pollen Substitutes: What is the difference between Ultra Bee and Ultra Bee Plus?
Pollen Substitutes in Beekeeping
Just like most creatures, honey bees require proper nutrition and a healthy diet. Honey bees naturally fulfill these needs by foraging on plants for both pollen and nectar, both of which are utilized in various ways to feed the colony. However, when honey bees struggle to find pollen and/or nectar naturally, beekeepers often supply a replacement for these to ensure the colony’s survival and growth. In the case of a these natural pollen dearths, lack of pollen, beekeepers will provide their bees with a pollen substitute.
Pollen substitutes are an important beekeeping item to have on hand and ready when a dearth begins. This is especially important in early spring, before plants are producing enough pollen to sustain the honey bee hive and strong colony growth is needed for the season ahead. Also, fall pollen substitute feeding is necessary to provide the right dietary needs for your colony to maintain a strong, healthy population for successful overwintering.
Today, beekeepers have many pre-made pollen substitute options available on the market to them. However, not all pollen substitutes are created equal. Knowing what to look for in a pollen substitute can be the difference between supplying your bees with the diet they need for success or setting your colony up for failure. At Mann Lake, we recommend beekeepers provide their honey bees with Ultra Bee High Protein Pollen Substitute or the latest addition to the Ultra Bee product line: Ultra Bee Plus. Both Ultra Bee and Ultra Bee Plus provide your honey bees with superior nutrition via high quality ingredients to ensure your colony thrives during pollen dearths and beyond.
What is Ultra Bee High Protein Pollen Substitute?
Ultra Bee High Protein Pollen Substitute provides your honey bees with the nutrition they need to make it through a pollen dearth, but also provides a high amount of protein. Protein is an essential nutrient involved in successfully brooding bees and ensuring your colony’s population grows. However, providing your bees just with protein does not automatically mean your colony has everything they need to thrive. A complete amino acid profile is also necessary and is provided in Mann Lake’s Ultra Bee. Amino acids ensure your bees are utilizing all the available protein content in the pollen substitute. Besides providing high protein and the amino acids needed to fully utilize that protein, Ultra Bee rounds out your bees’ nutritional needs by providing beneficial vitamins, minerals, and fats.
Ultra Bee High Protein Pollen Substitute is available from Mann Lake in both a dry feed formulation and as a pre-made patty. Ultra Bee Dry Feed can be fed as-is to your bees or used to create your own custom pollen substitute patties. Ultra Bee Patties are pre-made and ready to be placed on your brood boxes right out of the package. Both options are made with no animal by-products and are manufactured in the USA, using only high-quality ingredients.
Ultra Bee is a time-tested and trusted pollen substitute used by both hobbyists and commercial beekeepers alike. Mann Lake carries Ultra Bee Dry Feed in 1 lb, 10 lb, 40 lb, or 1500 lb containers; while Ultra Bee Patties are available in 1 lb, 10 lb, 40 lb, or 2100 lb packages. Both Ultra Bee Dry Feed and Ultra Bee Patties, at bulk quantities, can be customized during the manufacturing process to suit large-scale beekeepers’ needs. This makes Ultra Bee High Protein Pollen Substitute an excellent option for beekeepers everywhere.
What is Ultra Bee Plus Pollen Substitute?
As beekeeping grows, both as an exciting hobby and as a vital industry, so do the methods and sciences behind it. New innovations to solve challenges and to ensure the health and wellness of the honey bee are critical in making sure beekeeping remains successful. Mann Lake carries this mentality regarding its latest feed product: Ultra Bee Plus.
Ultra Bee Plus is a high protein pollen substitute made for your honey bees. As the name implies, Ultra Bee Plus utilizes all the amazing features of the original Ultra Bee High Protein Pollen Substitute (mentioned above) with the additional added benefits of natural pollen.
Naturally sourced pollen, when added to a pollen substitute like Ultra Bee, actually increases the consumption rate of the substitute. This encourages bees to fully consume the protein substitute patty. Also, by increasing or decreasing the amount of natural pollen in a pollen substitute, the beekeeper is allowed a form of control on the colony’s protein consumption rate, thus controlling the brood buildup of the hive. Essentially, the higher the natural pollen content, in addition to a high protein pollen substitute feed, the greater impact the pollen substitute has on your colony’s brood rearing abilities.
Regarding pollen substitutes, the addition of even a little natural pollen, goes a long way. Mann Lake’s Ultra Bee Plus is available as pre-made patties and contains a natural pollen content of 5%. All pollen used in Ultra Bee Plus, and from Mann Lake, is sourced from US beekeepers and irradiated (removal of any possibility of disease-causing pathogens) to ensure quality. This allows for a boosted patty consumption rate in your colony and a swift colony build-up. All this, plus the high protein content, complete amino acid profile, and robust nutritional value found in the original Ultra Bee products. Ultra Bee Plus Patties are available from Mann Lake in 1 lb, 40 lb, or 2100 lb packages and are ready-to-feed right out of the box. As with Ultra Bee, Ultra Bee Plus bulk quantities are fully customizable, even down to the amount of natural pollen used in your batch.
Ultra Bee and Ultra Bee Plus products along with other great beekeeping feeds, hives, and protective gear are available through Mann Lake. Mann Lake is the largest beekeeping supplies manufacturer and offers trusted/high-quality products for beekeepers, by beekeepers.