Thymol use - any suggestions

[NEIL16]

Hi everybody. I'm relatively new to Bee-keeping. Started my first hive earlier this year and so far so good. Just prepping the girls ready for winter and going through the usual checks and have sorted my Varroa control. I have been using Thymol crystals mixed with surgical spirit at a rate of 1 teaspoon/gallon of syrup. But I have seen on You tube Beekeepers putting the crystals directly into the hive, also soaking sponges in the hive for cheap Varroa control. Any views on the best and safest process to get rid of those pesky little critters off the Bees. Neil16

 

[pargyle]

.... But I have seen on You tube Beekeepers putting the crystals directly into the hive, also soaking sponges in the hive for cheap Varroa control. Any views on the best and safest process to get rid of those pesky little critters off the Bees. Neil16

Sounds a bit drastic to me ... look up Hivemakers Thymol Recipe in the Stickies section.

 

[VEG]

Yep use an all ready prepared treatment

 

[MuswellMetro]

Hi everybody. I'm relatively new to Bee-keeping. Started my first hive earlier this year and so far so good. Just prepping the girls ready for winter and going through the usual checks and have sorted my Varroa control. I have been using Thymol crystals mixed with surgical spirit at a rate of 1 teaspoon/gallon of syrup. But I have seen on You tube Beekeepers putting the crystals directly into the hive, also soaking sponges in the hive for cheap Varroa control. Any views on the best and safest process to get rid of those pesky little critters off the Bees. Neil16

are you saying your varroa control is only thymol in syrup? if so where did you get that advice from? what type of hive are you using and what strength of thymol mixture, is it ten tons of thymol per pint of surgical spiirt or 1 gram per pint

normal thymol method is to use a proprietry approved treatment such as apiguard or a similar homemade but unapproved version such as thymol grease patties or hivemakers method

 

[theeggman]

To save possible confusion for the OP the following are links to the threads being mentioned above.

Varroa control http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1840

Thymol for syrup http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=49691&postcount=44

I hope this helps.

Tim

 

[Arfermo]

As a novice beek, your best bet would be to spend a few coppers relatively speaking as compared with the cost of replacing your bees if something goes wrong, I strongly recommend you buy in ready prepared product (Apiguard preferably), from say Thxxxnes or Wyxxe Jones. Play around mixing your own stuff when you are certain that what you are doing is OK. In the latter respect, I assume you have joined the local BKA and registered with Beebase? If not, you should in the interests of yourself and the wider beeking community. Also FERA has an on-line free booklet "Managing Varroa" but your BKA may well hard copies if you ask nicely. You are quite late in starting treating for varroa - last week in August start iswould have been better. What has surprised me is how few are the drops of varroa following the first half of Apiguard treatment this year. Anybody else out there found this too?

 

[pargyle]

What has surprised me is how few are the drops of varroa following the first half of Apiguard treatment this year. Anybody else out there found this too?

There's a lot of people reporting low varroa kill levels when treating this year ...there are a few exceptions and a few in denial but there seems to be a generally low level of infestation this year.

A lot of the comments are hidden within unrelated threads but there is one thread that concentrates a few ...

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=25955

 

[itma]

Another vote for "novice beeks should be gently but firmly discouraged from trying to save a fiver while risking their only colony by using homebrewed treatments".

 

[Aggravated]

Quite agree

 

[NEIL16]

Thanks all for the good advice. Your quite right - im not just using Thymol, I put in Apiguard first week of September and Bees seem to be doing well, I have also noticed very low levels of Varroa kills - so the good news is not too infested. I am using one teaspoon of Thymol to one gallon of syrup as I understand apart from the dis-taste of the Varroa it also stops the syrup going mouldy - (I only use in very small amounts).

 

[blackcavebees]

R.O.B Manley propagated the idea of using thymol in syrup intended for winter feeding in order to prevent fermentation and the growth of mould.

Manley's recipe in metric is 30 gm thymol dissolved in 150 ml of surgical spirit, with 5ml added to 13.5 litres of sugar syrup, commonly called
1 x Manley. There is a sticky with a good instruction from Hivemaker on how to make this up, and an alternative using leicthin as an emulsifier

Stronger solutions in feed are used to "help" treat Nosema and Acarine. 2litres of 2:1 thick syrup with 2.5ml of Manley's receipe gives approx "3x Manley" dose.

Thymol is an anti-fungicide and as such may be useful in controlling chalkbrood.

Regarding Varroa, Thymol does not kill varroa mites. It does, however, upset its reproductive system. The female cannot mate within the cell of the bee and once it emerges with the young bee, it falls from the comb and dies and cannot, therefore infest another cell. Thymol is the main ingredient in Apiguard and ApiLife Var vapour treatments. Some beekeepers (as you say on Youtube) have thymol frames which crystals are put in and they stay in hive for months, but not suitable for any honey production hive (see Dave Cushman's site for pictures).

Too much, in my limited experience, is a brood inhibiter – will put the queen off the lay sometimes

 

[Skyhook]

Regarding Varroa, Thymol does not kill varroa mites. It does, however, upset its reproductive system. The female cannot mate within the cell of the bee and once it emerges with the young bee, it falls from the comb and dies and cannot, therefore infest another cell. Thymol is the main ingredient in Apiguard and ApiLife Var vapour treatments. Some beekeepers (as you say on Youtube) have thymol frames which crystals are put in and they stay in hive for months, but not suitable for any honey production hive (see Dave Cushman's site for pictures).

Too much, in my limited experience, is a brood inhibiter – will put the queen off the lay sometimes

To be clear, the effect on varroa is rather stronger than that- or you wouldn't get mites falling like rain when treatment is put into a heavily infested hive. My understanding is that it breaks down cell walls, but someone may be able to add to this.


.

 

[itma]

Thanks all for the good advice. Your quite right - im not just using Thymol, I put in Apiguard first week of September and Bees seem to be doing well, I have also noticed very low levels of Varroa kills - so the good news is not too infested. I am using one teaspoon of Thymol to one gallon of syrup as I understand apart from the dis-taste of the Varroa it also stops the syrup going mouldy - (I only use in very small amounts).

As per the other responses, you seem confused by the different uses of Thymol - and the different ways of using it for those different purposes.

There are two "Hivemaker's Thymol" sticky threads.
They relate to different recipes for different purposes.
I have been asking that the Admin team edit the titles to emphasise that one is about DIY anti-varroa measures, and the other is about syrup treatment to prevent mould (and perhaps even act as an anti-nosema tonic).
Maybe one day they will have enough time to get around to it.


I really do believe that beginning beekeepers should be steered away from all forms of DIY medication - at least until they understand how the jigsaw fits together.