something went horribly wrong

[Rooster4473]

Today was my first time fogging with fgmo/thymol mixture.

I fogged like I have always done with only fgmo, and from the very beginning things looked wrong. The bees sorta looked greasier or something and more panicked then usual. I just finished fogging them, as usual and kinda stood back and watched.

A ton of bees started comming out the front of the hive and falling all over the grass in front of the hive.

Then a big beard of bees came out and sat on the front porch. There was a whole bunch flying around. It was just total chaos.

When I left, there was still a ton of bees flopping around in the grass and the beard was still on the front of the hive. It was getting dark, and it has been cool all day, getting colder. I figure the ones in the grass are going to freeze tonight.

I feel like crying.... What went wrong? I think I followed the directions right.

Could too much thymol, like if I measured it wrong and mixed it too strong, be the problem?

[Oxankle]

Well, Rooster;
Why don't you start by telling us what proportions you used? How much thymol, how much oil?

Ox

[Rooster4473]

I took about 100ml of oil and melted 50 grams of thymol into it.

I took that mixture and split it in half - about 75ml - and added it to what was left in the fogger. ( I put one bottle about 490ml of fgmo into the fogger a week ago and only used it twice ) So I figured there was about 400ml of oil left in the fogger.(give or take)

I figured I would have ended up with a mixture of about 450ml oil and 25 grams thymol. (give or take)

I'm really stuck in a jam, I wanted to use the thymol on my other hive. When I checked my first hive today I saw about 20 mites just on bees. Now that I feel like I killed the second hive I don't know what to do.

[Oxankle]

Well, Rooster:
We will have to assume that you know how to weigh out the thymol, and that you really had 50 grams of it.

Assuming that you mixed the thymol well, evenly dispersed in the l00 ml of oil, then put half that in 400 ml in the reservoir you were only a little bit "strong". Now, when you poured in the 50 ml of mix, did you stir or shake the tank to make sure it was well mixed before you fogged? If all you did was pour it in, the heavier thymol-rich oil went to the bottom and you may have been fogging with a 50-50 mix of oil and thymol. Before you fog again, make sure you stir the mixture.

Don't try to fly by the seat of your pants. Dr. R. has given precise instructions for preparing the Thymol/oil mix. Oil is cheap at Walmart; buy what you need and measure it with care.

Another possibility; your say that the bees boiling out 0f the hive appeared "greasy". If your fogger was not up to full heat when you began fogging it could have been blowing oil out the nozzle, probably hot oil. It could also blow hot oil if you had stroked the pump while the coils were cold, filling them with oil.
If that happened the fogger would blow oil out the nozzle as it heated up. If you did not allow it to come to full heat and clear itself before you started fogging the bees you would have blown hot oil at them.

My guess is that you most likely did not kill the hive. Keep us posted.
Ox

[Rooster4473]

Well, I weighed out the thymol on a triple beam scale. It's dead on. So that part I know was right.

The heated thymol was mixed good, but when I put it in the fogger I didn't really mix it, I drove about two miles with the fogger in the back of the pickup, I figured that would mix it, but it may not have, never though of that....

And there may have been less oil in the fogger then I thought.

I was kinda doing this on a spur of the moment. I pretty much panicked when I saw all the mites on the bees at home. And figured I'd mix it up quick and use it cuz I was running over to the farm.

I'll check em tomorrow, and let you all know. I'm gonna go to walmart tonight to grab some oil and thin down what is in the fogger before I use it on the hive at home and see if that helps, hopefully.....

One other question, if most people leave the board out of the screened bottems during the summer, when the mites fall off if there isn't a sticky board, don't they just crawl back into the hive? Does the oil really keep the hive that slippery till the next time oyu fog?

[Michael Bush]

>One other question, if most people leave the board out of the screened bottems during the summer, when the mites fall off if there isn't a sticky board, don't they just crawl back into the hive?

Usually if they fall very far, no. They usually don't seem to make it back up when they fall 3/4" and I have a tray in.

>Does the oil really keep the hive that slippery till the next time oyu fog?

No. It just dislodges and kills some mites everytime. To keep it going between Dr. Rodriguez uses the cords.

[clintonbemrose]

I have been using FGMO fogging and cords for 2 1/2 years and never had any problems. This year I added the Thymol as pre Dr. R and found it to bee wonderfull I have never had oil coated bees but I use the propane fogger and let it heat up for 5 minutes before using it. I also test it by fogging a piece of cardboard ocasionally to make sure I am not spraying any liquid.
Keep up the good work Dr. R
Clint


------------------
Clinton Bemrose
just South of Lansing Michigan

[Rooster4473]

I went today and checked my hive. There were around 100 mites on the board, which was a small number in comparason to the number of bees that were dead in front of the hive.....I checked them out, I did find the queen (I was worried I killed her, too) and she looked ok. It is a really large hive, so it doesn't look like I did any irreversable damage. Auctuall you can't even tell any are missing, although I still feel bad....

I am going to dilute what mixture is left in the fogger, let the fogger heat really good, and try tomorrow fogging the hive at home. Hopefully I don't have any problems....

[bjerm2]

Rooster4473
Don't keep mixing the old with the new. Your playing Russian roulette with your bees. You have no idea what the concentrations are in the old stuff mixed with the new stuff. The ratio is changing. Are you having a 10% mixture or a 1% mixture of thymol! It can kill off your whole hive if you do not follow the directions the Dr gave us. What type of thymol are you using? The one the Dr told us to use or did you get it with some immunities in it? Let me know.
Dan

[beeman 202]

For goodness sake dump it out and start over with certain concentrations.

[Rooster4473]

I fogged the bees at home this morning. I didn't change the dilution at all. I let the fogger heat up really well, and kept the tip back a little more, and everything looked good.

I would say that I cooked the other hive with oil.

[Dr. Pedro Rodriguez]

Hello folks.
Back in Spain taking care of our colonies here to get them ready for winter.
RE: thymol mixing.
Please be careful with your souces of thymol and PLEASE be exact with your measurements! You are bound to have problems if you ¨re-invent the whee¨l.¨ Sounds familiar? Of course. I have been repeating the same warnings for a long time.
Have a wonderful day and God bless all.
Dr. Rodriguez