Honeybees will travel a two mile radius to retrieve nectar and
pollen from flower blooms. The honey bee has hair on each
of its hind legs which collects the pollen as she walks around bloom.
The pollen will literally ball up on her leg and will usually be
about the size of a be-be that you see used in a pellet gun. Click
here to see a closeup photo.
Beekeepers keep honey bees in a "hive" or beehive.
The beehive consists of a brood chamber, which is the larger chamber
usually located on the bottom and supers which are usually above
the brood chamber and can be stacked up to 10 high in a good season.
The brood chamber is where the Queen bee will lay eggs to raise
brood, therefore giving us the name "brood chamber".
The smaller chambers that you see toward the top of the hive are
called supers and this is where the bees store the honey and pollen.
You will also see pollen stored in the brood chamber as well.
When pollen is collected for human consumption, "pollen traps"
are placed on the hive. These traps remove the pollen granules
from the leg of the bee and allow it to fall down into a tray for
removal by the bee keeper. The honeybee has to crawl up through
a series of 1/4" wiring to enter the hive and in the process
of doing so, the pollen is scrapped harmlessly from the honeybee's
leg and it drops down into the tray for collection later.
This pure natural unprocessed bee pollen is then sifted to remove
any foreign matter that is frequently found in the hive, i.e. wings
and legs. After removing the non pollen particles by fan, the pollen
is frozen and ready for resale. It is not uncommon to find
an object missed during the cleaning process. This is no reason
for concern, simply remove the object and be reminded that you are
eating pure bee pollen in the same form in which it was collected
by the honeybee.
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