Thymol Varroa treatment, heightened aggresion from bees

[dclewis]

I've not tried thymol for varroa tratment (disolved in veg oil applied on pads per Hivemakers's recipe in earlier thread) before, but put my pads on yesterday and was expecting there to be a reaction from the bees to get a bit of clustering outside the hive, which occured, but I was not expecting to get down right harrassed by bees to start seeking out anyone within 100m of the hives to harrass. Is this a typical reaction to Thymol and if so how long does it last, as long as the thymol is in the hive I suppose or do they settle down? I do not want to make my family's and the neighbours live's miserable by being pestered by bees buzzing them. Any suggestions?

 

[Tom Bick]

No not to my experience this reaction is not normal.

You normally get a reaction depending on the colony some even show now reaction whilst others can be more obvious but what you describe is excessive.

Have you followed the recipe fully as perhaps the mix is to strong for the bees.

 

[dclewis]

Used 80g thymol crystals in 120ml of veg oil, used hard cardboard strips (250x35x2mm) rather than oasis as a pad, and soaked cardboard 24 hrs in mix, enough cardboard strips to put 2 in each hive and 1 in nuc. About 1/3rd of the volume of oil/thymol was not absorded by the card, so I believe that the dosage was about right.

 

[madasafish]

80g?

Hmm.. I'm sure you don't mean that.

If you do, no wonder your bees are aggressive..

 

[Hivemaker.]

Used 80g thymol crystals in 120ml of veg oil, used hard cardboard strips (250x35x2mm) rather than oasis as a pad, and soaked cardboard 24 hrs in mix, enough cardboard strips to put 2 in each hive and 1 in nuc. About 1/3rd of the volume of oil/thymol was not absorded by the card, so I believe that the dosage was about right.

No change in the bees temper at all,that is way too much surface area...why don't you just follow the instructions.

 

[dclewis]

There's the rub, here in France the supplier of Thymol crystals supply also these card applicators but the instructions recommend dissolving the crystals in 70% alcohol and then soaking. Almost identical quantities of thymol to alcohol as thymol to veg oil. Now I thought that alcohol would evaporate off faster and be more of a problem to the bees than veg oil so I went for the veg oil option. I'll just have to try and get some oasis then if its a problem with surface area.

 

[Skyhook]

Used 80g thymol crystals in 120ml of veg oil, used hard cardboard strips (250x35x2mm) rather than oasis as a pad, and soaked cardboard 24 hrs in mix, enough cardboard strips to put 2 in each hive and 1 in nuc. About 1/3rd of the volume of oil/thymol was not absorded by the card, so I believe that the dosage was about right.

Sounds to me like double dose- should be 8g per hive per application. I suggest take them out, re-read the instructions, and try again.

 

[Luminos]

Has 8.0g been read as 80g?

 

[oliver90owner]

Dose is a little under 10g per hive, apparently, approximately, estimated

As Hivemaker says, the evaporative area is quite large.

Ambient temperature may make a large difference too

The alcohol would be gone long before the thymol. The veg oil will remain long after the thymol.

Possibly feisty bees anyway. They may settle down (also may not).

The joys of having bees near people. I would suggest you move them to a more appropriate site for the duration of the threatment.

RAB

 

[derekm]

The victims we interviewed said "The bloke who normally brings joss sticks at this year was replaced by someone who lobbed in CS gas grenades in through the door. We are going to kill someone or something for this"....

 

[Arfermo]

Doubt if anybody will be interested but a local beek with 6 out apiaries and 48 hives who has been involved with bees for 75 years, puts 1gr of thymol in empty teabags and hangs two in opposite corners of the B/B throughout the summer season and has no varroa problems. At Xmas when no brood, oxalic of course. He also has a foolproof method of finding the queen too - not that anybody on this forum would believe that of course.

 

[Luminos]

Doubt if anybody will be interested but a local beek with 6 out apiaries and 48 hives who has been involved with bees for 75 years, puts 1gr of thymol in empty teabags and hangs two in opposite corners of the B/B throughout the summer season and has no varroa problems. At Xmas when no brood, oxalic of course. He also has a foolproof method of finding the queen too - not that anybody on this forum would believe that of course.

...which is...?

 

[moby]

...which is...?

Please enlighten us

 

[Skyhook]

Doubt if anybody will be interested but a local beek with 6 out apiaries and 48 hives who has been involved with bees for 75 years, puts 1gr of thymol in empty teabags and hangs two in opposite corners of the B/B throughout the summer season and has no varroa problems. At Xmas when no brood, oxalic of course. He also has a foolproof method of finding the queen too - not that anybody on this forum would believe that of course.

Try me

 

[Arfermo]

Try me

I forgot to mention that he doesn't use gloves during manipulation either. As for finding an elusive queen. If queen is elusive in a large colony, get a spare empty BB and another for the frames to be put in when you have shaken all the bees off them into the empty box. Eventually the queen WILL be found either in old box or the empty one where the shaken bees are walking about - for a minute or three anyway. Best done on a warm day. Simple tsk (meerkat style)!!!. It's not as difficult as you might imaging and it does make certain for the purpose of clipping if one doesn't want uncontrolled swarms. Amazing to watch hime doing it.

 

[Skyhook]

So if I've pictured this right- move the BB and floor, put a new one in its place, check each frame for the Q. If not seen, shake all bees off, place the frame in the other box in the original position. If you haven't found her by the end, the bees will start flying home and she will be left in the 'residue' in the original box.

Have I understood?