BeeFonda with thymol 20kg

01 · WHAT IS IN IT

Already-inverted sugar and 170 mg of thymol per kilo

The base is already-inverted sugar: 54 % dextrose and 40 % fructose, plus 3 % triose and 2 % maltose. Being inverted, the bee spends no invertase on it — which is exactly what you want from a maintenance paste when the colony is cold and barely active. On that base goes thymol at 0.017 %, that is, about 170 mg per kilo of paste.

02 · THYMOL, IN PERSPECTIVE

It replaces no authorised acaricide

Worth stating plainly, because it is the usual confusion: at that concentration thymol is not a varroa treatment and replaces none. Authorised thymol-based acaricides work at doses of a different order and carry their veterinary registration. Here thymol goes in as reinforcement of the feed itself and as a scent the bees take well; the apiary's health plan is still made separately.

03 · HOW TO PUT IT IN

A cut underneath, the patty over the frames

Make a cut in the underside of the bag and lay the patty straight on the frames, opening down towards the bees. The plastic stays on: it acts as a floor and keeps the paste off the crown board. Store between 10 and 20 °C, and once a bag is open it is best fed straight away.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Thymol has a very marked aroma and can carry over into honey. So this feed goes in outside the flow, in autumn or late winter, and never with supers on if you intend to harvest that honey for sale. If what you want is a maintenance paste with no aromatics, the thymol-free version of the same range does the same energy job.