Q: Preserving sugar syrup with thymol
I note in the February edition of American Bee Journal some correspondence about preventing sugar syrup from fermenting. One way is the addition of a small amount of thymol. It will not readily dissolve in syrup, but it will in alcohol: one ounce of thymol crystals in five fluid ounces of surgical alcohol. Half an ounce (14 g) of this mixture per 110 lbs. (50 kg) of sugar made into syrup will keep the syrup from fermenting more or less indefinitely. The bees do not object and do well on it over winter. This recipe was recommended by R.O.B. Manley in “Beekeeping in Britain,” published in the late 1940s.
Peter Kemble
United Kingdom, February
I was reading your response to hindering syrup spoilage and wondered if you had heard of thymolized syrup? You remarked that other additives had not been studied for effects, but thymol has been studied and is in use against mites. The amount of thymol in the syrup is very small, but it does a great job of inhibiting mold. I use it to keep the stored syrup free of mold and it keeps the bucket feeders I use clear between refills.
Chris Hagwood
January
Add thymol to sugar syrup feed. Add about eighty grams (2.8 ounces) to an IBC tote. Dissolve thymol in pure ethanol first before adding since it does not dissolve in syrup. We feed heavy 2:1 syrup and do not bother with thinner stuff. Some Pro Health can be added also. This works for high fructose corn syrup (55%) also, but the syrup needs to be diluted about 10% with water to help keep it from crystalizing and make it thin enough to pump. We have kept totes of syrup fresh for more than a year without spoiling using this method. Thymol is a Randy Oliver method and should be common knowledge.
Bruce Bowen
January
A
It looks like readers were thinking the same thing about preserving sugar water. All three of you emailed me stating that you can use thymol to accomplish this goal. Personally, I prefer to mix only what I need to feed, feed everything I mix, and use 2:1 (or greater) sugar water to limit sugar-water spoilage. However, I will take a moment to comment on the use of thymol, since it seems that many folks do this.
I conducted a quick literature search on this topic. As you might imagine, people have administered thymol to colonies multiple ways, including through sugar syrup, but usually to evaluate the impact of thymol on a honey bee pest (usually Varroa) or pathogen. I could not find any research on the topic of using thymol to keep sugar water from spoiling. Of course, the absence of information does not undercut its efficacy. If it works, it works. It is just that the lack of information in the form of a research project keeps me from being able to recommend its use. I know two of you cited information from published sources (a book from the 1940s and Randy Oliver). Yet, the scientist in me needs to see this in replicated field studies in which its efficacy is assessed and demonstrated. I could not find where Randy looked at this from a sugar-water spoilage control perspective, but rather as a possible control for Varroa. One would need to confirm a dose that is safe for adult bees and brood and that will not show up at harmful residue levels in honey. I appreciate the feedback. Maybe this is something I can investigate this year.
Q: Requeening defensive hives
We are small-scale hobbyist beekeepers in central Kentucky with four years of experience. We purchased a mated queen from a source in Georgia to requeen a queenless hive last year. The hive accepted her and is very prolific. However, this hive has been incredibly aggressive for the last nine months, even through the winter months, and is no longer pleasurable to even be near. The difference in temperament compared to our other three hives is impressive. The hive has plenty of honey stores. The last mite wash was two mites per 300 bees on Thanksgiving, with two subsequent oxalic acid vaporization treatments. There was no evidence of animals harassing the hive.
What is your preferred process of requeening an aggressive hive to not perpetuate this current queen’s genetics? Can I use a 5-frame resource nuc to replace with a gentle-disposition queen and colony? Please walk me through your preferred process of requeening an aggressive hive to maximize our chances for success.
Adam Ogle
Kentucky, January
A
I would requeen this colony. If possible, you need to go through it, kill the old queen, and requeen either using a mated queen or a nuc. When colonies are defensive, I tend to release the queen myself so that I can confirm the colony has accepted her.
Requeening with a mated queen: Queen cages often come with a “stopper” that covers the candy end. This may be a plastic cap (with plastic queen cages) or a cork (with wooden queen cages). In both cases, I leave the stopper on the cage, place the cage in the hive, and then come back ~4 days later. I remove the queen cage from the hive, look at the bees’ behavior on the cage, and then make the decision to release her or not. I base this on what the bees are doing on the surface of the cage. If they are moving freely on the screened portion of the cage (i.e., I can move the bees easily with my finger or a hive tool), I release the queen into the hive. If the workers are difficult to move on the cage (i.e., they are biting the cage), I return the cage to the hive and come back in 2-3 days to see how the workers are responding at that time. After releasing the queen into the hive, I pull the frame she walked onto and see how the bees on that frame are responding to her. If they respond aggressively, I recage her, place the cage back in the hive, and repeat the process in ~2-3 days. If they are not attacking her, I return the frame to the hive.
Requeening with a nuc: I follow the standard procedure for requeening with a nuc (see the video linked in my answer to the preceding question), except that I will usually cage the queen in the nuc before moving her and the nuc frames/bees into the defensive hive. Then, I come back in …
