Hivemakers Thymol recipe (see sticky post)

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goodbobby

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Originally Posted by admin
Thymol recipe (sticky Post)

I am very interested in going this route with my Autumn feeding. In his "sticky post" Hivemaker lists encouraging/positive effects with regard to Nosema control and Varroa levels and the elimination of the need to treat with year-end Oxalic Acid. Also it appears that "thymolised syrup" has the added benefit of being able to be stored without degading or fermenting? Has anyone tried this method and what were your experiences?..... Did you still apply Apiguard treatment as well or would this be Thymol overdosing?...Guidance would be very much appreciated
 
Used it last year and this, bees survived the winter without anything worse than a mood swing. Still apply Apiguard (or in my case Apilife Var) as thats combating the evil mite.
 
:iagree:

No problems with fermentation/mould. The amount of thymol actually added to the syrup is very small (1 teaspoon of the mix to 1 gallon of syrup) so no risk of a thymol overdose when used with Apiguard.
"Pure" sugar syrup has no smell but I have found that the addition of thymol mix means the bees find the syrup very quickly and take it down quite happily.
 
I use the emulsified thymol pre mix in my syrup and would not be without it. Bees don't seem to mind it and my bees last year also came through the winter.

I use apiguard for the mites.
 
:iagree:

No problems with fermentation/mould. The amount of thymol actually added to the syrup is very small (1 teaspoon of the mix to 1 gallon of syrup) so no risk of a thymol overdose when used with Apiguard.
"Pure" sugar syrup has no smell but I have found that the addition of thymol mix means the bees find the syrup very quickly and take it down quite happily.

Please enlighten us on the magic formula!
 
The recipe is on the sticky posts part of the forum
 
Thymolised Syrup recipe

Hi ICAHOPIT its under sticky posts but here is a cut and paste anyway;

Okay,will start by saying last spring i tested every colony for nosema, had 20+ colonys with heavy nosema infection,started to treat in the very mild weather in feb, they all responded really well to treatment,some were later given complete comb changes,but not all,later in spring a few more colonys also got nosema that previously tested clear,obviously drinking from the same contaminated water supply that had been crapped over by some of the infected colonys,so every hive in the affected apairys were treated.

Last autumn every full size colony and nuc was fed down with thymolated syrup,this spring have yet to find any signs of nosema in any colony,even weaker one's,and even in the one's that previously had very heavy nosema and had no comb changes,these colonys are in fact boiling over with bee's at the moment and many have had second brood chambers added,some were over wintered on double broods and are incredibly strong,some will be having two nuc's taken from each one very soon. Also as a slight side note i have detected no varroa mites in the vast majority of hives,very very few in some,and no oxalic used at all,reminds me of pre 2002 when i always fed thymolated syrup.

Poly Hive..........
The original recipe is simply 30g of thymol crystals dissolved in 150 of surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol.........will keep indefinately and you add up to five ml of this per gallon of syrup feed,or if to simply stop fermentation 5ml per 3 gallons.
Problem with the above mixture is the oil tends to float on top of the syrup,obviously some of it is in the entire mix,but not in an equal suspension,so therefore not being stored in the combs as i would like it,and i believe is more effective if emulsified.

If you wish to carry out your own test add 10ml to a bucket containing 2 gallons of syrup,allow to settle,then with a thin tube syphon some surup from the bottom of the bucket into a clean cup,then take some syrup from the top of the bucket into another cup....then smell the difference....taste it..see which one gets you spitting for a few minutes.

Emulsified thymol pre mix.

30g thymol crystals placed in honey jar,add 5ml of isopropyl alcohol to the crystals,place jar into a water bath of boiling water to speed up the dissolving process.
In another jar pour in 140 ml of boiling water and add 1 teaspoon of lecithin granules, stir well,and place this jar into a water bath of boiling water,stirring often for abot ten minutes or so until most of the lecithin granules have dissolved,you can then strain this mixture through a teastrainer or similar to remove any granules that have not dissolved fully,then simply add the dissolved thymol to this mix,and shake well,will look just like a jar of milk.
To use add 5ml to each gallon of syrup and stir well,syrup will go milky,unlike when using the old original mix.
If the mixture forms any crystals at a later date,tip into old small pan and reheat,do this outdoors.
There are also other feed supplements availible such as vita feed,and nosevit ect,i have never tried these so cannot make any comment on them,but i will sure be sticking to what i know works well.

Ps in the past i have on occasion added two teaspoons of the old original mix 10ml per gallon with no ill effects on the bee's at all,but 5ml is plenty.
 
Getting there!!!

Where can I buy pure Thymol crystals and Iso Propyl Alcohol
and lecithin ????
Cheers folks!
 
Thymol crystals...........C Wynn Jones.

Lecithin..... Health food shop.

Isopropyl Alc or surgical spirit... Chemist.
 
Did the mix a couple of weeks ago and have some very happy bees slurping it up. Great stuff, all credit to Hivemaker. I quite like the smell too but haven't gone as far as to taste it. Wonder if it has any medicinal benefits for humans too?
 
Thymol's good if you've got mites...
 
Getting there!!!

Where can I buy pure Thymol crystals and Iso Propyl Alcohol
and lecithin ????
Cheers folks!
I got the thymol from C Wynne Jones..next day delivery and I rang at 15:30!

Lecithin from amazon (you only need a teaspoon so will last years)

isopropanol from ebay (same as above)

All online ordering for those of us who don't have shops all that near!!
 
Hi ICAHOPIT its under sticky posts but here is a cut and paste anyway;

Okay,will start by saying last spring i tested every colony for nosema, had 20+ colonys with heavy nosema infection,started to treat in the very mild weather in feb, they all responded really well to treatment,some were later given complete comb changes,but not all,later in spring a few more colonys also got nosema that previously tested clear,obviously drinking from the same contaminated water supply that had been crapped over by some of the infected colonys,so every hive in the affected apairys were treated.

Last autumn every full size colony and nuc was fed down with thymolated syrup,this spring have yet to find any signs of nosema in any colony,even weaker one's,and even in the one's that previously had very heavy nosema and had no comb changes,these colonys are in fact boiling over with bee's at the moment and many have had second brood chambers added,some were over wintered on double broods and are incredibly strong,some will be having two nuc's taken from each one very soon. Also as a slight side note i have detected no varroa mites in the vast majority of hives,very very few in some,and no oxalic used at all,reminds me of pre 2002 when i always fed thymolated syrup.

Poly Hive..........
The original recipe is simply 30g of thymol crystals dissolved in 150 of surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol.........will keep indefinately and you add up to five ml of this per gallon of syrup feed,or if to simply stop fermentation 5ml per 3 gallons.
Problem with the above mixture is the oil tends to float on top of the syrup,obviously some of it is in the entire mix,but not in an equal suspension,so therefore not being stored in the combs as i would like it,and i believe is more effective if emulsified.

If you wish to carry out your own test add 10ml to a bucket containing 2 gallons of syrup,allow to settle,then with a thin tube syphon some surup from the bottom of the bucket into a clean cup,then take some syrup from the top of the bucket into another cup....then smell the difference....taste it..see which one gets you spitting for a few minutes.

Emulsified thymol pre mix.

30g thymol crystals placed in honey jar,add 5ml of isopropyl alcohol to the crystals,place jar into a water bath of boiling water to speed up the dissolving process.
In another jar pour in 140 ml of boiling water and add 1 teaspoon of lecithin granules, stir well,and place this jar into a water bath of boiling water,stirring often for abot ten minutes or so until most of the lecithin granules have dissolved,you can then strain this mixture through a teastrainer or similar to remove any granules that have not dissolved fully,then simply add the dissolved thymol to this mix,and shake well,will look just like a jar of milk.
To use add 5ml to each gallon of syrup and stir well,syrup will go milky,unlike when using the old original mix.
If the mixture forms any crystals at a later date,tip into old small pan and reheat,do this outdoors.
There are also other feed supplements availible such as vita feed,and nosevit ect,i have never tried these so cannot make any comment on them,but i will sure be sticking to what i know works well.

Ps in the past i have on occasion added two teaspoons of the old original mix 10ml per gallon with no ill effects on the bee's at all,but 5ml is plenty.
I made the emulsified mix last night - no problems in doing it but the smell really hangs about!! Recommend you put the extractor on full blast and keep the windows open! Dispose of any paper towels used to clear up as well!
 
Yes, correct ratio ie 2:1 but you will need to mix about 5kg of sugar to give you approx 1 gallon of syrup to add your 1 tsp of emulsified thymol mix:)

ps sorry about the mixed metric/imperial measures:blush5:
 

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