# Homemade super clearing liquid / bee repellant?



## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

I was just doing a search about Fisher's bee quick - which I would buy if a local supplier had it, I hate paying shipping, when I came across a thread with a recipe for a super clearing repellant from Grant.
It was Artificial Almond scent mixed 50/50 with Tea-tree oil and some 90% rubbing alcohol added for good measure.
Has anybody tried this? I wonder if Grant is still using it? 
I will only have to pull supers from 8-10 hives in August. I've tried brushing, I've tried blowing, and now I would like to try a non-offensive odor method.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

The almond scent stuff is benzaldehyde. It forms a lot of crystals on the surface of the repellent board, so many and so large that they can fall off in to your supers. I was told this is why it is not "legal" in Canada. It works just kind of ok, not as well as butyric ( bee go ).

Bee Go; the sweet smell of success.


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

Tom, thanks. I appreciate your response.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Bee Go doesn't smell good but it also doesn't leave residues or taste. 

Carbolic acid will also repel bees without affecting honey.:shhhh:


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

The problems with benzaldehyde is what prompted the invention of the bee blower(I was there).

Crazy Roland


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Roland was that before or after the invention of dirt.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

everybody quite using carbolic acid in the late 60's because of potential problems. and that was before people were worried about thier health.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Beeware I think what you are saying is that there was a hazard to the applicator. That is what i recall also. But 50% dilution worked very well and actually user exposure could be minimized. But it's probly better safer to forego it. If i have a lot of honey to pull I consider the smell of BeeGo to be a badge of honor. Canned laughter please.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

I still use it. No residual smells. I make this myself. Cheap and effective.

I tried Bee-Go because all the big guys were using it. The residual smell that lingered in the supers moved my wife to say, "What died in the garage?" And the fume boards were left to air out back in the bee yard. I swore that stuff stuck to the lining of my nostrils because I smelled it for days wherever I went.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

carbolic acid was first used by charles mraz while working for claude stevens of venice center ny. I went to a nys beekeepers meeting with mr stevens when I was in school with walter kelly as the speaker. they went around the room to make sure no reporters were present. then the meeting went to say we had to stop using carbolic acid because of major potential problems. see there are people on this site older than you. hope you have a good summer


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Beeware that is a great group of bee people.Didn't mean to offend. Wasn't the problem the fumes being inhaled by the applicator? 

I shouldn't have mentioned it. I was just trying to look smart.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

hay no problem. there are a lot of beginners here and just did want someone to start out wrong. probably someone is already getting ready to market it. ha ha see ya later


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

beeware10 said:


> hay no problem. there are a lot of beginners here and just did want someone to start out wrong. probably someone is already getting ready to market it. ha ha see ya later


OK gotcha.There are a lotta beginners.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Roland was that before or after the invention of dirt?

Actually , the inventor(of the bee blower) died at age 89 on July 4th last week.

The first blower is pictured in the July 1966 ABJ. The power unit pictured is in my living room.

Crazy(but not as old as dirt yet...) Roland


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## DeeAnna (Nov 5, 2010)

I'd say the use of carbolic acid (phenol-water solution) in beekeeping is far older than Charles Mraz.

In my reading of British Beekeeping Association newsletters from the late 1800s and early 1900s, carbolic acid solution was used as a "bee go" type of product, an alternative for smoke when working in the hive, as a disinfectant for woodenware, and to treat some of the bee diseases of the day.

It was one of the earliest disinfectants used in human surgery and wound treatment -- first used in human medicine by Joseph Lister (of Listerine fame) in the mid 1800s. It was discontinued when safer disinfectants were discovered. It was also, according to Wikipedia, used by the Nazis as an injectable drug to execute people in WWII.


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