We have been using Propolis

[kc in wv]

Last fall I mixed up at a 4 to 1 ration of gin and propolis. During the cold season I would take a few drops each morning. During last winter I did not get any of my average of 2 colds. Once summer hit I reduced my intake back to about once a week.

Last week my wife got a summer cold and I convinced her to try about 1/2 teaspoon several times a day. She said that it seemed to help how she felt for a while.

When she started coming down with this cold I went back to a few drops per day. So far so good

[Ribster]

do you dissolve the propolis in the gin?

[kc in wv]

The instructions in the book I have, say's to grind the propolis into smaller particles and let it soak in the alcohol for 2 weeks. You also shake it up every day and should use a high % alcohol . The gin was the cheapist at the store I went to. I never got around to straining out the propolis.

[winevines]

My friend from Europe says that they gargled spirirts (alcohol) with propolis for colds as well.

[bee crazy]

The instructions in the book I have, say's to grind the propolis into smaller particles and let it soak in the alcohol for 2 weeks. You also shake it up every day and should use a high % alcohol . The gin was the cheapist at the store I went to. I never got around to straining out the propolis.

How doyou grind propolis? It's so sticky even when froze hard.

[kc in wv]

I never had a problem with it being sticky when frozen. Do you put it in a deep freeze or a freezer on a fridge? A deep freeze is about 0*, where a fridge freezer gets to the upper 20*'s. I just use something like a large spoon or ladle to squash it into smaller pieces. If it starts getting tacky while you are working with it, you could put it in the freezer again.

A 1/4 cup of propolis and 3/4 cup of gin will last a year for me for cold prevention. I just use a few drops at a time

[LAS]

how do you get the propolis from the bees

[Michael Bush]

>how do you get the propolis from the bees

You catch the ones with propolis on their legs and carefully remove it. No, not really.

You put a propolis trap on top of the hive which is just a sheet of plastic with slits in it and the bees try to fill the slits to block the light. When it's covered you roll it up and put it in the freezer in a garbage bag. When you unroll the frozen propolis it pops off of the trap.

[LAS]

thank you for the info MB, I was trying to imagine scrapeing propolis off of my hivebody then off of my hive tool and trying to freeze it sticky, something told me their was a better way!!!

[kc in wv]

thank you for the info MB, I was trying to imagine scrapeing propolis off of my hivebody then off of my hive tool and trying to freeze it sticky, something told me their was a better way!!!

As the propolis ages and the weather cools down it will probably get brittle. I normally clean my equipment in fall or winter. Two big times of the year for bee's to make propolis is spring and late summer.

One interesting item from the HAS '07 meeting in Frankfort was a discussion of hive health and its relation to the bee's tendancy to make propolis. The thought was the more propolis in the hive the healthier the colony would be.