# Bee-Quick or BeeGo



## magnet-man

BeeGo and Honey Robber is butyric acid. Butyric acid is found cheese, think parmesan, rancid butter and vomit. Put it in a glass ampule and it makes for a great stink bomb.

Bee-Quick no one really knows for sure. Jim Fisher has been very tight lipped as what it is. He claims it is all natural and doesn't contain almond. I only know of two chemicals that smell like almond, and I don't think those are used.


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## BonnieBee

Bee-Quick is made from almond oil extract, I think. Jim Fischer is tight-lipped about the formula. Has a pleasant smell, easy to use and a little goes a long way. It's what I use.

The other stuff, from what I am told, smells like vomit and any fumeboard you use you're gonna wanna leave outside. And heaven forbid if you spill the stuff on yourself. Not sure if you're suppose to wear a mask when you're using Bee-Go.


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## alpha6

We use honey robber...works well for us.


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## magnet-man

Bee-Quick is an aromatic aldehyde and not almond oil. Ammonia will neutralize the smell of Honey Robber or BeeGo. I do know a third and it is what I think Bee-Quick is made of. It can be derived from natural sources, but Bee-Quick likely uses a synthesized version. My guess there is a second ingredient that most people like to consume while watching football , but this is only a guess.


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## Michael Palmer

BeeGo, and Honey Robber are the same. They're made from the root chemical...Butyric Acid. The chemical name is Butyric Anhydride. Honey Robber has a fragrance added. Supposed to smell like cherries. Riiight!

Fisher's Bee Quick is similar to what we used to use....Benzaldehyde. JF says it's not benzaldehyde. Maybe not. Benzaldehyde was taken off the market in Canada because it forms crystals on the fume board pad. These little crystalline stalactites fall off the pad and into the honey supers. Not good. Bee Quick doesn't form crystals...as far as I can tell, although I haven't used a lot of it. 

I found that Bee Go works far better than Bee Quick. In a commercial operation, BQ takes too long to work.


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## honeyman46408

Michael Palmer said:


> I found that Bee Go works far better than Bee Quick. <> BQ takes too long to work.


 
Ditto - if you wanta move bees use Bee Go if you want your truck to smell nice use Bee Quick :lookout:


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## loggermike

My son says Bee-go smells like puke and Honey Robber is cherry flavored puke.

Beequick smells MUCH better.Unfortunately, we could never get it to work fast enough to pull honey from big yards before a robbing frenzy started.I went through a gallon of it trying , then gave up on it.


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## pcelar

Michael Palmer said:


> I found that Bee Go works far better than Bee Quick. In a commercial operation, BQ takes too long to work.


How long is too long? Can someone give us some numbers?


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## Grant

I buy the artificial almond extract (benzaldehyde) from the canning/spice section of the farm supply store (cheaper than the little brown bottles with the red labels at the grocery store).

I mix it about 50/50 with tea tree oil, then add some 90% rubbing alcohol from Wal-Mart. It speeds the evaporation and the effectiveness. There are other homemade compounds that work great, but endorsing them is not in the best interest of this forum.

Given the original question, I'd pick Bee-Quick over Bee-go any day. I've used Bee-go, however, having had my wife come into the honey house and wince, complaining, "What died?" and having to leave my clothes out in the garage because the odor of Bee-go lingered....never again. It took a week of fans and opening the window to get the smell out of the honey house...and this was just the lingering odor that hung in the supers!

As for robbing, here's a great tip. Open all the hives by removing the top and inner covers on all the hives. Then start pulling honey. I know it sounds kooky and an invitation for disaster. But I've been there with the robbing and this method just plain works. However, you have to remove the lids before the robbing starts.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## beedeetee

For beekeepers with a small number of hives, Bee Quick works just fine. It takes 3-5 minutes to clear a super. I have used Honey Robber -cherry scented vomit that lingers on your supers in the garage- (I have an almost full bottle that I need to dispose of somehow) but I will never use it again. It took about the same amount of time for me as Bee Quick.

I did use some different procedures with Bee Quick that may have helped with the speed in comparison to Honey Robber. When I used Honey Robber I went ahead and broke the supers loose from each other and the excluder. This exposes honey which makes the bees less likely to move. When I used Bee Quick I didn't. I have only used Bee Quick for one year. I pulled the supers when the temps were in the 80's. It took 3-5 minutes using a fume board I got from one of the suppliers (Brushy I think). Maybe 0-12 bees left per super.


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## loggermike

It took 2 hours for 2 people to pull 106 medium supers yesterday with bee-go and 12 fume boards.


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## BonnieBee

Grant said:


> As for robbing, here's a great tip. Open all the hives by removing the top and inner covers on all the hives. Then start pulling honey.


The theory goes that by opening up all the hives before removing the supers all the bees are gonna stay and protect their honey supply from robbing, thus no bees attempting to rob another hive.


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## wildbranch2007

loggermike said:


> My son says Bee-go smells like puke and Honey Robber is cherry flavored puke.
> 
> Beequick smells MUCH better.Unfortunately, we could never get it to work fast enough to pull honey from big yards before a robbing frenzy started.I went through a gallon of it trying , then gave up on it.


ditto

mike


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## palmerbee1629

That's why this forum is great. Lots of opinions. I think I'll try all three and see what works for me. I'll also remember not to spill any of the stuff to keep the family content.


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## xC0000005

Bee-Go makes mee-go. I told a friend once - you use that and the only thing you'll clear out of here is me. Oh, it might work on the bees but it probably works on anything with a nose. I like BeeQuick and will pull another super tomorrow using it. Then again I'm a small time beekeeper with three (count them - heck, you can probably count the individual bees) hives, so what works for me probably doesn't scale. I have no problem walking down to check the hives in the evening. If I had 600 hives I doubt that would be feasible.


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## DelBee

beedeetee said:


> For beekeepers with a small number of hives, Bee Quick works just fine. It takes 3-5 minutes to clear a super. I have used Honey Robber -cherry scented vomit that lingers on your supers in the garage-
> 
> I had the same experience with the Honey Robber. It lingers for months and my honey even had a faint smell of "vomit" to it after I extracted. Luckily the smell went away, but I'd never use it again. I prefer the Bee Quick.


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## Jeffzhear

I use a 200 hundred mile an hour blower.....quick and to the point...especially in the fall when the temps are cool and the liquids don't work as well.


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## Tom G. Laury

Bee Go; the sweet smell of success!


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## jim lyon

We use bee go or actually the generic equivalent butyric anhydride. Amazing how little it takes. I would approximate a gallon will pull some where between 5 and 8,000 mediums depending on weather conditions or put another way an ounce to an ounce and a half for a ton of honey. A little common sense in the handling makes the smell issue a non factor. We use blow boxes with an old bed sheet as the absorbent and a pint glass jar with tiny holes in the lid as a "sprinkle bottle" and fashion a handle so that gloves don't come in contact with the jar. We never notice a smell coming off the honey supers or our clothes for that matter. It is all in the handling.


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## Michael Palmer

Tom G. Laury said:


> Bee Go; the sweet smell of success!


Ca-Ching, Ca-Ching!


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## EastSideBuzz

So I used Bee-Go because of this thread and it worked like a champ. But, I left my boards in the back of my truck and it was a warm night. The wind was just right for the draft to come in the front door of the house. Boy oh Boy was the wife unhappy when she figured out why there was this faint smell of puke wisping through the house. Not to mention the honey spill in the Kitchen after I forgot to shut off the valve on the extractor when the bucket filled. 

(I know old thread).


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## honeyman46408

Slow learner huh :lookout:


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## loggermike

If you had used Honey robber instead, there would have only been that pleasant cherry aroma in the house.

I try to leave the fume boards in the beeyard , if it will be convenient to pick them up for the next yard to pull. Otherwise if you have to bring them home, put them in doubled up large garbage bags and keep them as far from the house as possible.


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## fish_stix

If you spill the BeeGo use household ammonia on it. Kills the odor fast! Spilled a pint bottle in my pickup last week and got some nasty looks at every stop light on the way home. Sprayed it with a little ammonia and presto, no more smell. BeeGo works the best, by far, of any of the fume products. If you're only pulling a few hives any of them will work; when you're looking at several hundred supers you need BeeGo unless you just plain enjoy sitting in a beeyard waiting for something to happen and watching your truck rust.


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## roaddog

i use beego it works great! realy cant say i have ever had smell problem then again i dont spill any on me i spill it on the fume boards.


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## taylor

peppermint essential oil on cotton facial pad works graet for clearing the bees from any thing


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## amyrush2012

I'm just curious, If you were to get Bee-go on something or accidently spray it somewhere you didn't intend to spray it, how would you get the smell out?


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## BadBeeKeeper

amyrush2012 said:


> I'm just curious, If you were to get Bee-go on something or accidently spray it somewhere you didn't intend to spray it, how would you get the smell out?


If you had taken a little time to actually read the thread you would have found that the answer to your question is a scant three posts back from it. :doh:


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## deknow

Without looking into it, I would be concerned about what fumes are released (if any) mixing ammonia with an acid.


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## BadBeeKeeper

deknow said:


> Without looking into it, I would be concerned about what fumes are released (if any) mixing ammonia with an acid.


Ammonia is a [weak] base, it will [help] neutralize an acid. Your kidneys make ammonia to neutralize excess acid in the body. Ammonia is a precursor to the formation of numerous other substances in the organic chemistry of living things.

Mixing ammonia with chlorine can be bad, as it will convert to nitrogen and hydrogen chloride, and the hydrogen chloride will convert to hydrochloric acid on contact with atmospheric humidity (which is why you don't want to mix ammonia and chlorine cleaning products)...and if there is enough excess chlorine you will produce nitrogen trichloride (NCl3), which will go BOOM! rather easily.


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## challenger

So how long does it take for bee quick to work? It'sabout 90* here so maybe tthat's why it's slow to work? I read this thread front to back and one poster says a few minutes but I've still got bees in a box that I put a fume board on an hour ago. There are much fewer bees but there are still far too many? 
Thanls
BTW I'm using benzaldehyde not actual bee quick. BQ wasn't available.


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## snl

Bee go! Works quick. 

Funny, stupid story. Had a beekeeping friend whose son filled a small squirt gun with bee go and took it to school. He used it on some of his tormentors ........... they had to go home to change. He got suspended............


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## DavidZ

you know what else works....that Resuce fly trap stanky stuff. Bees bail in a few minutes.
I had troubles with flys by the thousands around my topbars, I hung one of the rescue traps within 10 foot from them
and I had 3 mini swarms queens and all within a hour. 
After loosing 4 swarms in the first week using this stuff, I suddenly realized why they kept absconding.
I moved the fly traps all to late, I lost all colonies except 1 of the 7 topbars.


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## challenger

Well I decided to look at some instructions and it made all the difference. With a black metal fume "board" AND hives in the sun this stuff is amazing. I had basically written it off as BS but the supers were cleared in less than a minute. It surprised me completely. If a hive wasn't in the sun I placed the board in the sun for a little while and it worked almost as well.
Still NOT applicable for a comm or heavy hobby user. Or for anyone with a problem getting the tops hot.


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## snl

So C, which one were you referencing? BG or BQ?


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