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  • Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
 #4921  by Chrisbarlow
 01 Oct 2019, 17:25
I've made up a couple of batches. Put some on a colony just to see if they would try them and a success. Taking them down nicely (in this relatively warm weather with many good flying days Mick)

Made a cock up with last batch by not putting enough liquid in , which meant they wouldn't set hard in warming cabinet. So took them out and put them back into a bucket and added more water. Did a remix, They've set ok now.

I tweaked the recipe and added some pollen substitute in as well.
 #5025  by derekmroberts
 13 Oct 2019, 20:15
Suggestion on the acid additive - I have had two occasions where bees with very low stores didn't take syrup down from a feeder. I added a teaspoon of cider vinegar (mentioned as a syrup additive in the BBKA magazine many months ago) and they came for it before I got the lid back on the feeder - seems they like condiments!

I passed this on to a friend who was having the same problem, same result.

Some of my bees like fondant, some not so keen, maybe it helps them find the stuff in the first place?
 #5026  by Chrisbarlow
 13 Oct 2019, 23:09
Possibly Derek, don't know tbh. I thought the lemon grass was the attractant, but who knows
 #5039  by Chrisbarlow
 17 Oct 2019, 17:47
Checked the sugar blocks that's had been put on earlier. They've made short work of em. Some completely gone others mostly gone.
 #5155  by Alfred
 06 Nov 2019, 14:42
I see lots of copy where syrup is thymolated but not fondant
Has anyone here used thymol in fondant?
 #5156  by Chrisbarlow
 06 Nov 2019, 19:21
Alfred wrote:
06 Nov 2019, 14:42
I see lots of copy where syrup is thymolated but not fondant
Has anyone here used thymol in fondant?
Short answer is No
But
I thought about it but I wasn't sure how to distribute the thymol evenly through out dry sugar mixture.

I did add some pollen powder to 5kg buckets of sugar and that alone took an aweful lot of of mixing to evenly mix it through the sugar and I put quite a bit in.

So I shyed away from thymol tbh. However if some one has cracked how to evenly distribute it through out, I'm all ears
 #5157  by Alfred
 07 Nov 2019, 07:51
From an ignorant point of view, could you not just dissolve the crystal (and the vinegar)into the water then add the sugar?
Maisemores. sell thymolated candy so it appears
 #5158  by NigelP
 07 Nov 2019, 08:35
The question is why would you want to add thymol to sugar blocks/fondant in the first place?
It's main function in syrup is to prevent mould forming, something likely to happen with fondant as sugar content far too high.
It's presumed to be helpful in preventing nosema when taken as a liquid feed so unclear if it works on solid food...or shall we say it has yet to be tested.
 #5159  by Patrick
 07 Nov 2019, 09:14
There is also some suggestions that Nosema ceranae may have different susceptibility to N.apis.

I was interested to note when the NBU did a random sample pathogen test on my bees 10 yrs ago they found N. ceranae but not N.apis. At the time ceranae was a more novel problem to most beekeepers.

Since fumagillin B was banned I have not used any specific branded nosema preventatives, although I have used thymolated syrup occasionally and MAQs, which may have had some incidental nosema effect. I only tried one alternative proprietary product and didn’t notice any great advantage so did not repeat it.

It does not seem to the scourge implied by our grandfathers, I wonder why? Milder winters allowing more cleansing flights maybe??
 #5415  by AdamD
 09 Jan 2020, 09:14
I notice that the apiarist uses fondant blocks to feed his bees and he doesn't use syrup.
https://theapiarist.org/fondant-fancies/
I can see the advantage - no syrup to make up and therefore no worries about fermentation. Just plonk it on.