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  • Thymolated syrup - who uses / have used / recipe / any issues?

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #4454  by NigelP
 11 Aug 2019, 16:40
Patrick wrote:
11 Aug 2019, 08:41
otherwise it supposedly sits on the surface of the syrup and kills off mould or stops it establishing. But Manley didn’t use lecithin.
I have never seen a layer of thymol in isopropyl alcohol sitting on the top of the sugar solution.
The only people who tell me they have seen are the people who use lecithin to which I ask if you are using lecithin when did you see this?
There is name for dissolving something in one solvent to get it also dissolved in a second solvent in which in its solid form it won't dissolve very well.
 #4903  by Patrick
 28 Sep 2019, 17:35
So stimulated by others thoughts on here I used a thymol stock without lecithin and added a squirt to the feeder before filling with syrup.

And as I had experienced before, the bees ignored the syrup initially and although I had primed the feeder hole a few days later largely untouched. Bizarre.

Went in today however and all thankfully emptied (bar one - ironically my lightest hive). Phew! I may have squirted in too much stock and made it too thymolated? - but others feel concentration is not critical. Or maybe bees come to terms with the smell eventually and just go for it?

As my lightest needs feeding the most, I poured off the thymolated mix and refilled straight sugar syrup. Hopefully they will tuck into that a bit more happily.

Anybody else had similar uptake issues?
 #4904  by AdamD
 28 Sep 2019, 20:21
Patrick, Sometimes, from my experience, weak colonies don't take down syrup for a while at least. A bit of honey dribbled down and under the cover of a rapid feeder can help. Then they start to take it down slowly; after a while it starts to go down better. Then add the thymol. I am sure that it can put bees off sometimes.

And how much is a squirt??
 #4907  by Japey Edge
 28 Sep 2019, 21:01
I've been feeding my colonies thymol syrup over the last few weeks. The nuc takes it up straight away - as quick as normal syrup. I'm wondering if the strong smell attracts them as opposed to the lack of smell in plain syrup?

I stuck the 10L Ashforth feeder on my lighter Abelo colony, filled to around 8 litres. They've taken it down to around 3-4 litres and seem to have stalled. I am thinking it may be that there's a thick line of dead bees at syrup level so that will be interesting to sort out...

I've made some more syrup tonight but I'm not sure whether to put more thymol in... They've all had a fair few litres of thymol syrup so maybe I should go plain this time.. I don't know.
 #4908  by Patrick
 28 Sep 2019, 21:36
Yes, well - calibrating a squirt is tricky! Tbh, I would be surprised if really much more than a teaspoon per gallon feeder so within usual operating tolerances...

I like the idea of getting them going before adding thymol. I have had issues before with thymolated syrup and takedown by some colonies, which was why I was interested they did all take to it eventually - still bar one. As they broadly get feed in three x gallon batches, I have in the past fed treated syrup as second or third batch - this is my first time as first and I feared it had stalled their winter storing but we seem okay now.

Interesting Jazz you had opposite experience. Honestly, bees!
 #4910  by Japey Edge
 28 Sep 2019, 22:17
Patrick wrote:
28 Sep 2019, 21:36

Interesting Jazz you had opposite experience. Honestly, bees!
As my sample data is extremely small it's not very accurate :lol: there could be many other reasons. All colonies have happily took thymol syrup. I think the last one is just sticking, maybe they're chocker. Hopefully they left enough room for the queen to lay :roll:
 #4911  by NigelP
 29 Sep 2019, 16:37
I have had problems (in the past) with occasional colonies not taking down plain sugar syrup and problems with occasional colonies not taking down thymolated syrup.
I don't think adding or not adding thymol makes any difference to bees taking sugar syrup down, it's more an individual colony thing where some can take longer to recognise it's a food source and some hives never do.

Jazz it's normal for syrup uptake to slow down at times, reasons can vary. Sometimes temperatures mean the bees are less active, sometimes they simply have no room left to store the syrup....or various other combinations.
$ome of mine took 5 litres overnight. I added another 5 litres 2 days ago and they are still working their way through it....
If you've fed them 10 litres that's usually about right (for poly hives) and the hives should heft nice and heavy. So little point giving them much more....and if they have slowed down not adding thymol simply means it will go mouldy if not used.

The trick from now on is to monitor hive weights by hefting...always helps if you have multiple hives to compare. Some will use their stores up very rapidly and might need fondant blocks by Xmas, some won't. Monitoring is the only way to check this, once every month is usually enough....or in my case when I remember to do it.
 #4912  by Chrisbarlow
 29 Sep 2019, 16:42
The thymolated syrup has been very successful for me this year. I tend to do half a teaspoon per gallon. I've not noticed
any issues. It certainly smells very strong when it's in however I think it's basically Manley strength.

I tend to put on anything from a couple of litres to 15 litres depending on feeder type or nuc or colony. I check then a week later.

They've either completely emptied it or it's not far off.
 #6280  by Chrisbarlow
 08 Apr 2020, 20:00
I'm converted to using thymolated syrup. It was great last year, no black mold, nothing going off.

Plan is to make some up and leave some at each apiary in case of stores stortages during the summee