Thymolated syrup and Generic Honey B Healthy

[Dave Burrup]

I am trying to fill brood boxes with comb so I am still feeding hives. With the hot weather the syrup ferments quickly. I am planning on using thymolated syrup when my thymol arrives. Can I mix Essential oils, spearmint and lemon grass, with thymol?

[alpha6]

Yes you can. Be careful on the amount of thymol you use...it only takes drops and too much can be toxic to bees. Lemon grass and spearmint allows for a better margin. Later on tonight I will post a recipe on how to mix it (the recipe is on my home computer). My bees do great on it.

[Hambone]

Just to back my boy Alpha up.:gh: I use his formula and my bees do great on it too.

[MikeJ]

Is there a post mentioning what these are used for?

[Hambone]

There are a bunch of them. Search Essential Oils, Lemmon Grass, Spearmint, ect…

Thymol is used as a mite treatment. Lemmon Grass and Spearmint are said to improve the health of your bees. Not any real scientific studies on it that I know of. Basically the ones that use it really seem to like the results. The ones that don’t use it think we are stupid for using it. (That might be an over statement) Here we go …..again:popcorn:

Oh, and the lemmon and spearment help control mold in the syurp.

[Mountain Gold]

HBH is touted as a feeding stimulator.
I don't think there is any question that it does that.

As far as what spearmint and lemon grass EOs do to keep them healthy is another story but IMO it very likely does something positive.

Thyme/Thymol is a non-issue. It obviously knocks back the mites (see Randy Oliver' site and others). I think most would advocate using straight Thymol vs. thyme EO because it's easier to apply the dosage correctly. But if you use the straight stuff you'd better get the dosage right.

I combine all three EOs in my sugar syrup blend as well, and they sure don't do poorly on it. How's that for anecdotal? :D

Alpha6, I'd like to see your formula too as I'm still working on the amounts in mine. And good to meet you at the meeting last weekend.

[Keith Jarrett]

The ones that don’t use it think we are stupid for using it. (That might be an over statement) Here we go …..again:popcorn:

Or an understatement. :)

[Hambone]

Touché.

You don't count. You hate everything.:p Well....you do like the :banana: ;)

[Dave Burrup]

Thanks for the answers. Alpha I would really like to see your recipe.
Dave

[White Park Cattle]

Yup. A UK beekeeper here that would also love to see it! :D

[alpha6]

Here is the latest formula I am using to feed/treat my bees. I also use this mix in a sprayer to mist the combs if any trace of varroa is present.

Makes 5 gallons of feed.

In a five gallon bucket add 2 1/2 gallons of hot water (can be hot tap water) Next add 3 teaspoons of Soy Lecithin Granules (Mix well) I use a mud mixer with my drill but you can mix by hand.
Next add 2 droppers (or about 30 drops) of thyme oil (I use the oil not the crystals)
Next add 5 droppers of lemongrass oil
Next add 5 droppers of spearmint oil
Add one five lb bag of sugar
Mix well
Continue to add another 15 lbs of sugar mixing as you go
When you are done it should be pretty close to the top of the 5 gallon bucket. You can add equal amounts of water and sugar to top it off at this point if you want to.

This is a stimulant/treatment feed and not to be confused with a fall feed of 2:1.

With the EO's this will not ferment and can be stored for awhile. You can also cut the mixture in half if you don't need as much.

Good luck all.

[Texas Bee]

It works it works....

[duncan_bees]

Here is the latest formula I am using to feed/treat my bees.

--snip--

Next add 5 droppers of spearmint oil

--snip --



Could wintergreen oil be used here instead?

[Peter]

Yes you can. Be careful on the amount of thymol you use...it only takes drops and too much can be toxic to bees. Lemon grass and spearmint allows for a better margin. Later on tonight I will post a recipe on how to mix it (the recipe is on my home computer). My bees do great on it.


Did you ever post this recipe anywhere?
I've searched all over and can't find it.

Odd, wonder why it never came up on the search. As sonn as the response posted I see page 2 with the answer

Thanks

[Eyeshooter]

Take a look at the March, 2010 Bee Culture. Ross Conrad has an interesting article about commercial beeks who actually pour 8-12 oz of Honey-Bee-Healthy onto their bees, brood and comb once or twice a year. They pour it on as it's mixed 4x stronger than normally used for feeding. This way the bees have to take time to clean themselves and the hive and ingest the higher concentration. The beekeepers claim it has done wonderful things for their hives, including helping their businesses come back from CCD losses. Several researchers are looking into it and tho' they are not making any claims, the results the beeks found appear to fall in line with what the researchers are seeing. Seems to have a positive effect on honey bee viruses and fungi.

Ross is coming to my apiary in July and I may ask him to give it a try on some of my hives.

John