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<font color="#000099">Hi Mr. Roswell,<br>
<br>
Thank you for sharing the interesting observation.<br>
<br>
I have seen honey bees collect "dust" from grain in bird feeders
several times, when winter temperatures have been warm enough to permit
foraging, but there was no natural pollen available nearby. Others
report that, in the absence of real pollen, foraging workers will
collect other substances (e.g. concrete dust, mold spores) that have
share some of its characteristics. Grain dust has fine texture and
some protein content. Bees are believed to gain little or no
nutritional value from such collections. They should stop as soon as
nearby plants (especially early blooming maples and willows) start
producing pollen. When I've put out dry pollen substitute (amended
soybean flour) in a sheltered warm place, workers have switched from
visiting bird feeders to collecting that.<br>
<br>
Tim Miklasiewicz</font> <br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72"><font color="#993399"><font
color="#009900">_______________________________________________________
</font>
Tim Miklasiewicz, Ph.D. <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:tmiklasiewicz@frontier.com">tmiklasiewicz@frontier.com</a>
Plain City, Ohio, U.S.A. (614) 733-0320
<font color="#009900">_______________________________________________________</font></font></pre>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 3/24/2015 3:16 PM, Michael Roswell wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:5511B810.20100@gmail.com" type="cite">After an
outreach talk about native bees on 14 March, a master gardener from
northern NJ posed this query:
<br>
<br>
A reminder of my question...Why is my bird feeder covered in European
honey bees? My neighbor has two hives and has put out lots of protein
packs for them but they are all over both of our bird feeders.
<br>
Feed is mostly ground corn, other grains such as millet, sunflower
seed, and Veg oil. What are they eating??
<br>
Yes, I am further north and still lots of snow. Very little sign of
flowers.
<br>
<br>
Please pass along any ideas! This struck me as an interesting
observation.
<br>
<br>
Michael Roswell
<br>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
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