I think you’re on the right track by following the 60 years local knowledge, which trumps “opinions” of internet from other areas.
You did say “I have a few issues I need help with”.
2 Likes
Maybe they’ll eat it more readily? Today after reading this thread I offered a swarm I’ve recently caught some banana. They ignored it. They didn’t get angry either
Now that we have the nutritional value of bananas sorted, does anybody have links to same of wheat flour? I guess it also has protein and amino acids, but would be cool to be able to compare it to banana.
Interesting that many beekeepers fed soy flour in feed mixes for a while and now find out it made their bees sluggish and sick.
Banana seems to take care of certain deficiencies in Bee nutrition, so it’s a food medicine. Heightened defensiveness helps bees to clear out pests and diseases.
I’ve never seen a study about wheat flour.
Any links to benefits of wheat flour as Bee food?
I read they won’t take it if they don’t need it. They may be well fed up.
Also perhaps defensiveness is not a desirable trait for swarms.
Try again once they are well established.
My weaker chalkbrood Hive didn’t get defensive, the more established one much more so. Not so much that they attacked me, but you should have seen the 2 hive beetles they pummeled. And the suspicious way they inspect any bee entering their hive.
Very entertaining.
Could the fact that forms of potassium are used as fungicides be relevant here?
1 Like
You might find interesting, it isn’t a science experiment by any means but I have to say the bees are obviously finding it worth feeding on.
I think I found the site you referred to earlier that had a non-functioning link, it has 19 pages that was interesting reading, took some time to get the link to it but worth finding.
Regards
2 Likes
G’day Peter, I’m glad we don’t have to do that here. I’ve been cycling pollen bound frames out, the last couple of months.
I make my protein paddies. Grind most of my flours. Lentil, rice, wheat, sometimes peas. Along with brewers yeast, powdered milk, whey protein, ginger root, sugar and just enough honey to turn it into a dough. Bees eat up quickly but hive beetles also like it so only give 2 day supply. After reading article I might add banana. I have tried banana pieces in past but they ignored it. The above recipe is a fair amount of work so when it becomes to much I will be switching to the commercially available product. It cost the same without the work. Fun to experiment and learn something new.
2 Likes
This is different but interesting.
Using banana peel as a potential food source for bees (saves waste etc).
“Yes, I’m talking about bananas again. This spring we have heard that African beekeepers feed overripe bananas to their bees to increase brood and honey harvest. To many of us it came up as a surprise story. Some of the Master Beekeepers started to scratch their heads. We found some studies supporting the claim and some of us tried it. Including myself and it helped an early spring colony to recover that I basically had written off. This colony is very strong right now, and I’m happy I gave it a try. Besides bananas are cheap and I always end up with an overripe one. So what does it tell us as beekeepers? Don’t undermine people’s beekeeping practices just because they are not in the western world. In the meanwhile we see more and more nutrition documents and studies coming up about what bees really need. Including that soybean sugars can be toxic to bees (not the nectar). We know that all insects need a diet high in potassium and other minerals. You analyze plants and you learn that pollen later in the season is rich in minerals. These minerals help bees to live longer and so survive cold winters. Potassium is needed for bees to flex their wing muscles to generate heat in the winter cluster. The ethyl gasses these ripe bananas produce will reduce some of the pathogens by simply killing spores that can post issues to bees. We already know that banana peel cures chalk brood. It actually suppresses chalkbrood spores. They further have discovered that bees that have a diet rich in potassium can handle diseases better and actually live longer. So this brings me back to bananas that are rich in potassium and other minerals. I like to suggest to treat our fall hives with overripe bananas. You simply slice it with peel and all length wise, and cut one more time in the center to end up with 4 pieces. Lay one piece per hive over the bars and squish it down. Check after a week and replace if needed. Eventually they stop taking it or you can no longer open the hive. Please do not post nasty remarks, because you think we are nuts. Try it or don’t try it. It is all up to you. BTW it is amazing how much material comes up when you google “potassium honey bee” and even “winter bees potassium”. All studies done by universities. Lots of good reading material and very recent on top of it.”
Found the PDF finally:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nc4t7_CqXhmhVptWPoEaAjhz-uknFSGP/view
7 Likes
I wonder what this means??
40 years ago it was said that Banana made the hive very hot to handle. Maybe it was wrong. If it help the colony I am going to try a few hives and monitor the results. If they feed on the banana and they haven’t turned nasty I will be a convert and my worm farm will get less to feed on.
Cheers
I have a feeling my bees eat what ever they can find. The first month I had bees they were drinking my hydroponic water which is packed with nutrients for my plants. Of course I was worried about the bees because I had water for them. No mass deaths from the water solution.
Additionally, I don’t live in a climate where the banana tree grows so I’m not at an advantage for observation for if the bee pollinates the tree or the tree is self pollinating. Being that the banana is organic matter, I’m sure if they want to eat it they will.
This year I observed how the bees smell honey, and other scents. They sniffed out the bucket I mix sugar water in as they fly in my shed and hover around it snooping for some. They sniffed out the essential oils I have in the shed. They sniffed out the gallon milk jugs I store the sugar mixture in. I’m quite amazed by it.
My question would be after all the banana theories is. Can you make a pollen patty of mashed banana to serve as food protein and medicine?
Most commercially-grown bananas are not pollinated by bees. 
1 Like
Banana has a very low protein content but high in mineral so it could be one ingredient of your patties.
1 Like
It does make the bees more defensive according to my observations. It helps them to eliminate SHB and chalk mummies too. And they do more fanning with their butts up.
But you can still handle them, they just fly at you a lot faster. Just wear your veil.
1 Like
I also wondered about hat sentence but- I think they just meant that you have added supers and won’t be going back into the brood box. As in: you feed these bananas early in spring to help with the build up- then you stop later in the season when you have supered up. I think if they had meant anything about aggressive behavior they would have mentioned it clearly as a side affect.
1 Like
I put this video up earlier in the piece, I think it’s relevant now. At the time I didn’t know that bananas made bees more defensive. I don’t think the bees knew they had to be more defensive either.
4 Likes
That is an explanation I hadn’t thought of. When I read the tips about feeding banana I had alarm bells ringing for 45 years ago from my then mentor to never take the smell of banana into an apiary.
Now having a triple bee (Oz Armour) suit I might just do a test first and then if the girls don’t maul me then try them on a banana.
Thanks Jack.
Thanks for the video Jeff, I guess if the smell of bananas made for angry bees then your video wound have been much different with the closing scene with you hurdling a barbed wire fence in your bee suit and the bees in hot pursuit…
1 Like
An interesting Question, maybe one for a chemist to answer.
Cheers
BTW - this is the link where I found it, on her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KlamathBees/
I sent her a little message in case she is interested to answer some of the queries posed here 
1 Like