The clove oil cloth

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TooBee...

Field Bee
Joined
Aug 11, 2017
Messages
583
Reaction score
2
Location
Ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2+ nucs
Hi all
recently I met a beekeeper that didn't believe in smoking, etc., and in looking into possible alternatives I came across this, taken from this website via GoogleTranslator http://www.peter-adams.de/Bremer/teilc6.htm#Nelken
Does anyone have any knowledge of this, or even Clove Oils' effects on bees? Or any alternatives to smoke to calm the bees down?

****
"At some point I once read in a beekeeper book, that you can use clove oil to "expulsion" of bees in the practice of work on the people. But I never tried it, because I was used to it - and actually wanted nothing else - to work with Rauch on the people. During the time of my magazine beekeeping, I worked with the smoky "Vulkan" and was not really happy with it. Often I would have to use the smoke blower and I lacked then in the practical work, the second hand, because they had to operate the fan. So I soon returned to the well-tried beekeeping pipe. This was especially appropriate when only short interventions had to be carried out on the peoples. When the beekeeping had to be considerably reduced because of my poor health, and the lighting and operation of the "volcano" seemed superfluous, because it needed so much stuffing, and was often difficult to ignite and keep in operation, it was old bee whistle completely sufficient and satisfactory.
The use of clove oil as a means to satisfy the bees in the treatment was with me again only by Dr.. FAHR reminded. Now what I got from Dr. FAHR. saw, also performed on my level and then I have in the last few years almost exclusively on the use of this repellent so incorporated that I would not miss it anymore. In addition to the good soothing effect of the clove oil odor on the bees is yet another advantage to mention. My third teeth are not quite as good at using the old-fashioned bee whistle as they are used to with real teeth.
But what is a "clove oil cloth"?
A cake towel not brand new - with a size of about 30 x 30 cm is placed in a tight-fitting container. I use a plastic container of "RUPPERMAID", which. with its tight-fitting folds is very useful. Years ago, before the first use, I dripped about 10 cc of pure clove oil onto this cloth and pushed the tightly closing lid of the can back on. After a few days, the clove oil had spread in the fibers of the cloth and had become usable. To do this, first open the can before removing the cover and remove the scented cloth. Now lift the foil from the back a little and hold the cloth to the resulting gap. In warm weather, the "fumes" of the clove oil spread very quickly. The bees immediately try to run down the honeycomb and escape the scents. Now you lift the film off as far as it seems necessary for the work to be performed and spread the clove oil cloth spread for a few seconds on the top of the frame. The bees leave the carrier rails of the frames and you can now - without being bothered by the bees - remove the individual honeycombs.
After a while, of course, the bees push up again, because the clove oil scent is gone. Now it is enough to wag the fragrant cloth lightly over the top frames to drive the bees down again.
If you had the cloth in your hand a few times, or even wiped your hands with the cloth, then you can see that the bees even run away from their fragrant fingers.
After finishing work, the cloth is returned to the tightly sealed can, which also stores the vial of remaining, not yet used clove oil.
Once drizzled enough with clove oil, this is usually enough for several years. Prerequisite, however, is a tight-fitting box. If necessary, simply add some clove oil again. I've been using a vial of 50 cc for about 8 years and it's only half consumed.
Clove oil with the Latin name "Oleum Caryophylli rectific" is available at any pharmacy or drugstore. Currently (late 1994), the price of a vial with 25 cc content is about 10.00 DM. So a very inexpensive thing."
****
 
Back
Top