How is bee pollen collected?

by M Elena
(Pa)

I have a friend that has honeybees and I was asking her if she had any bee pollen and she said she didn't know how they got the bee pollen and how it is collected. I know you have some info. on your Bee Pollen facts page but can you explain in detail how it is collected?

Angela's Response:

In order for bee pollen to be collected, special pollen traps must be placed inside the hive. These are usually made of steel and have many small holes on them. As the bees return back to the hive, they must crawl through the pollen traps to get back into the hive. The pollen trap scraps the pollen off the legs of the bee and it falls into the collector.