# essential oils vs varroa: does it work? syrup recipe?



## Michael Bush

The problem with essential oils is you upset the microbial balance (necessary not only to digest pollen but to displace pathogens) and you upset the pheromones in the hive (some of the essential oils are almost a perfect match for some of the pheromones in the hive.


----------



## papamoose

I don't know if it works or not and it was something I wanted to try this summer as I have only a few right now. SO I did a lot of digging on this site and found this recipe: (one is a spray applied to all the frames (the first one) and the other is a feed for a feeder) 

Liquid Feed – Sprayer (or feed)
3 Gallons of Water
20 lbs of Sugar
(1.5 droppers of thyme oil) – Optional for use with mite control misting or as treatment/feed
3 droppers of lemongrass oil
3 droppers of spearmint oil
5 teaspoons of Soy Lecithin Granules

In a 5 gallon bucket pour in one gallon of very hot water (not boiling). Mix in 5 teaspoons of Lecithin granules. With a mud mixer or similar mixer, mix in the granules for a couple of seconds. Add your lemongrass and spearmint oil to the mix and run the mixer again. Next, add two gallons of tap water. Mix again. Next, start adding your bags of sugar. Add a couple of bags and mix then add more. If you try and add too much at once it can burn out your mixer. Keep mixing until all the sugar is mixed well into the solution. You should have about 4- 4.5 gallons of feed ready to go. 
(For mite control misting) Get a garden sprayer. Use one that has not been used before as you do not want chemicals in your feed. I label the one I use “Bee Feed” so it doesn’t get confused with anything. Pour in your mix and pressure up your sprayer. I use the fine mist setting. This allows you to mist a frame in one or at most two sweeps and doesn’t soak the frame or bees but gives it a nice even complete coating. Place into your hive and move to the next frame.
Lastly, I run two of these feeds with thyme and then just run them with lemongrass and spearmint. Towards the end of Nov. I will feed one more time with thyme. No special reason that I do this but experimenting around I found this works best for the bees. My mite counts since starting this method have been very low to zero. 
Alternate Liquid Feed (makes up a smaller batch)
2qts. of water
2qts. of sugar
12 drops of thyme oil
28 drops of lemongrass oil
28 drops of spearmint oil
3 teaspoons of lecithin granules

For the best prices on Lecithin go to Puritan's Pride
For Spearmint and Thyme Glorybee foods
For the lemon grass oil 100%pureessentialoils.com (you may find that with shipping you may want to combine this with one of the others I ordered other things for my wife to make it work while to order from all)

Hope this helps


----------



## knoxjk

Allanbham, I too am looking to use oils and have researched till the world looks level. So many oils and options!!! I stay confused on which works for what and when, some things you can use with honey stores some not. Micheal could you tell us what oils or methods that work for you and when to use them or if you use them. I also need to put together a game plan for this coming year, something simple and effective.


----------



## scdw43

If you want to keep treatment free bees, just don't treat. I have read all of the threads about, the definition of treatment free bees. My definition is chemicals, are anything that beekeepers did not put in the hive 30 years ago. Let me list a few, they used, wood (frames and boxes), foundation (that could have chemicals in the wax, and 30 years ago probably had DDT), and sugar (dry or syrup), pollen substitutes made with natural ingredients (soy, yeast, sugar). If you decide, to do this you need to prepared to accept 50 to 70 percent loses the first couple of years depending on where your original stock comes from. Bees can be kept this way, no matter what some think. You might not make 200 lbs of honey the first few years and maybe never in your location. If you are in a state that the average per hive has been 50 lbs or less per year for the last fifty years, you can dump every chemical in a hive made and you still want get 200 lbs of honey average per hive. I just don't treat except with the things above. I do manage my hives for increase but 99 out of a hundred times I leave the hive that I am splitting queenright. There is not an intended brood break. I do raise my own queens. I have not bought any bees for four years. The above is just my opinion not trying to start a discussion on whether, to treat or not to treat. I do have less than a hundred hives, at most times of the year. Some would say that if I had more hives that I would not be able to keep bees the way I do. Ok, if that is the case, anybody with more than a hundred hives, don't try this at home. We all choose to do things differently in life, that is what makes this country the great place it is to live.This is a great site that I enjoy very much. I hope with this post I have made friends and not enemies.


----------



## knoxjk

papamoose, does this get both mites and beetles? How often do you plan on using it if it works? I wonder if a person can use this bi-weekly as a preventative? Thanks for your post!!!!!


----------



## papamoose

As stated earlier, essential oils can mess with pheromones in the hive so I would not do it very frequently, I plan on having a test hive. The general timing I go from what I read on application is this,

After the flow, use the sprayer feed on the hole hive spraying each frame.

Then around Oct. or Nov. do the feed method, 1 or two times so they feed on it all winter.

I don't know if this will work on beetles, it was recommended for mites.

For beetles I found this non-chemical method that many have stated they have had good success with. I left the contributors names in place so they may have the credit they deserve for it.

*The men whose method is posted on Beeworks are Sonny Chidister and Mel McConnell. They make a lure like one would use to lure wax moths and put it in a sandwich container with a top on it. The container has the lure in a bottle top and sits in the sandwich container which has FGMO on the bottom of the container to trap the beetles. There are small holes poked in the sides of the sandwich holder to allow the beetle access( I used a 5/32 bit will see how it works or if I need to go smaller), but too small to allow the bee.

The recipe for the lure is 1 cup water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar and a ripe banana peel, cut up in small pieces. 

I mixed the apple vinegar, sugar and water. Then I took my very sharp knife and cut the banana peel into tiny pieces. I added that to the mixture and poured the whole mess into a pint jar. Sonny just emailed me and told me to put the jar outside for a day in the sun and it will be ready to use.*

This represents hours of digging through old threads and posts, so please make the best of it, and pass the word along if you have success with it. The more chemicals we can eliminate from the environment the better our ladies will do.

Good luckhttp://www.beesource.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif


----------



## beekuk

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249387


http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249245&page=2


----------



## Dave W

>I'm interested in keeping my hives healthy without using poisons . . .

Use the powdered sugar method of Varroa control.
True "control" begins with constant monitoring.


----------



## Merlyn Votaw

The only thing use is grease patty and I don't have any mite problem. I am starting my 5th yr of keeping ang I have 15 hives now. Equal parts sugar and veg grease. I use crisco.I make a patty about 5in about1/4 in thick and put it o top of the frames.It last about 3 months then I put another patty on.


----------



## allenbham

Thank you everyone for all the info, recipes, and opinions.
Michael, you mentioned that some oils are just like the bees' pheromones and can disrupt the hive. Can you direct me to more information on this? I'd like to know more about which oils are more likely to cause this problem.
I'm about to make a grease patty with wintergreen oil for my two hives. After tomorrow's cold snap I will try some feeder with essential oil.


----------



## Adam Foster Collins

Michael Bush,

Are you referring to Lemon Grass Oil? Is there any other EO's that reflect a similar chemical pattern to the bee pheromones of the hive?

Adam


----------



## ChristopherA

Well my use of EO is somewhat different than most. 

I will have to say mixing a very small amount in the 2:1 in the fall made a world of difference, the bees were taking in about 3 gallons per hive per week.

What I do different and increasing this year is planting the actual plants that produce EO since they are a natural source of pollen and bloom throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Lavander, Lemon Grass, Lemon Balm, Mints and more. I planted a lot this year and asked the gardener to plant it at my clients. 

I personally saw very little varroa and shb in my hives. I did not see any that needed treatment in my opinion however I did give the top bars a sprinkly of powdered sugar.

We know that the mites do not like the EO.

If you use HBH it is pretty much the same as using most of the EO mixtures for addition to the feed.


----------



## waynesgarden

allenbham said:


> ...... and so I panicked and put formic acid pads on them. This seems to have helped, but in future I'd much rather use a natural cure like essential oils than a harsh acid.


Perception is a funny thing. Formic acid concentrated in a pad is not natural yet various essential oils, extracted from plants into concentrations never seen in nature, are natural? I believe if you are open to essential oils, you needn't feeel guilty about applying formic, a naturally occuring substance. 

That said, I've used EOs in syrup as a spring and fall tool in the fight against varroa, along with powdered sugar dustings and this past year mite counts were so low, I didn't even think about using formic acid. I used the recipe posted often on these forums by Alpha6, who successfully uses a thymol-based concoction on his many hives. While Alpha6 graciously reposts his recipe and offers comments on his experiences almost every time this very common question arises, you would do yourself a favor by searching the threads for thymol and syrup and alpha6.

Wayne


----------



## Michael Bush

>Are you referring to Lemon Grass Oil?

Yes. It simulates Nasonov and makes great swarm lure.

> Is there any other EO's that reflect a similar chemical pattern to the bee pheromones of the hive?

I don't know. I never really had an interest in other ones, but almond extract will run them out of a super...

>Perception is a funny thing. Formic acid concentrated in a pad is not natural yet various essential oils, extracted from plants into concentrations never seen in nature, are natural? I believe if you are open to essential oils, you needn't feeel guilty about applying formic, a naturally occuring substance.

But both will kill the microbes off... leaving the bees with no way to ferment their pollen and no natural microbes to displace the pathogens.


----------



## Radical Bee

Does this bit about killing the microbes off pertain to oxalic acid vapors also?


----------



## rainesridgefarm

many people have been using EO for years and do not have issues with proper fermentation of pollen. The statement that EO will stop it is incorrect as there is a constant supply of yeasts coming in to the hives all the time. 

People talk about natural beekeeping but as soon as we started taking them out of trees and putting them in to any kind of box or on any kind of comb in that box we stopped natural beekeeping.

IF you are going to manage bees with todays pressures you need to help them live and thrive like any other livestock. 

I have seen beekeepers wiped out following the no treat no feed advice. Part of me does not mind it as they come to me to buy pail after pail after pail of honey becuase theirs did not produce anything and part of me gets pissed because they follow this and loose their bees do to neglect.

Just my opinion based on working bees and not sitting on a computer all day.


----------



## deknow

rainesridgefarm said:


> many people have been using EO for years and do not have issues with proper fermentation of pollen.


...since no one can currently give a reasonably detailed description of proper pollen fermentation, this claim seems unfounded. 



> The statement that EO will stop it is incorrect as there is a constant supply of yeasts coming in to the hives all the time.


there are over 10,000 different strains of microbes involved in the microbial culture of the hive...yeasts, bacteria, fungi....

we know of a fungi responsible for producing 24 methelene cholestol (a sterol that the bees need to raise brood) that works in the first few hours of pollen fermentation before the pollen becomes very acidic.

we know of novel (not found anywhere else on the planet) bacterial species that live in the honey stomach, are involved in honey production, and diseases resistance.

there is too much going on to simply state that eo's don't interfere with pollen fermentation...thymol is a powerful fungicide....originally used by beekeepers to prevent fungi from growing in sugar syrup.

deknow


----------



## Michael Bush

>Does this bit about killing the microbes off pertain to oxalic acid vapors also? 

Yes.

>The statement that EO will stop it is incorrect as there is a constant supply of yeasts coming in to the hives all the time. 

We aren't talking about merely any yeast, nor only yeast. We are talking about a whole spectrum of very specialized bacteria and yeasts that a hive needs to be healthy and that need to be there to crowds out that steady supply of other bacteria and yeasts that are NOT the ones that need to be there.


----------



## chillardbee

There was research done a WVU, 

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm

In here it talks about the use of tea tree, patcholi, and wintergreen. It is fed in a 1 liter jar and also the use of tracking strips and extender patties. very intresting read. check it out.


----------



## rainesridgefarm

That is exactly what I was trying to state there is more to the microbe world then just saying that eo kill it off. Many are not impacted at all. 

There is a whole realm out there that is not looked at. 

But EO do work to improve the overall health of the hive.


----------



## mnflemish

When spraying the recipe of essential oils vs varroa, do you spray over everything on the frame. Over larvae, brood or what? I'm going to try it.


----------



## Foreststalker

Merlyn Votaw said:


> The only thing use is grease patty and I don't have any mite problem. I am starting my 5th yr of keeping ang I have 15 hives now. Equal parts sugar and veg grease. I use crisco.I make a patty about 5in about1/4 in thick and put it o top of the frames.It last about 3 months then I put another patty on.


That's it sugar and Crisco in equal parts? I assume the oil/Crisco gets on the bees and suffocates the mites?


----------



## camero7

HBH and it's knock offs will help some hives. Best use is hives with nosema that won't take feed. Or as a feed attractant for sick hive. Some drench the bees with HBH and report that it helped the hive. IMO it isn't very effective on mites. Tried using just that 2 years ago and lost every production hive [nucs survived 100% that year]. Bottom boards were full of mites.


----------



## really_so_sorry

Michael Bush said:


> The problem with essential oils is you upset the microbial balance (necessary not only to digest pollen but to displace pathogens) and you upset the pheromones in the hive (some of the essential oils are almost a perfect match for some of the pheromones in the hive.



Could you point me in the direction of these studies?


----------



## Michael Bush

>Could you point me in the direction of these studies? 

There are thousands of studies that essential oils are antimicrobial. It shouldn't be hard to find a study that lemongrass oil simulates Nasonov (Some of them were done by Orley "Chip" Taylor). That the microbes are essential here are a lot of the studies:

http://www.beeuntoothers.com/index.php/beekeeping/gilliam-archives


----------



## Rick 1456

JMHO and my experience with EOs.
The Hive is a complex of pheromones, chemicals, microbes, etc. etc. I state the obvious. The bees communicate the hive "homeostasis" through feeding each other, grooming, and spreading these hive "smells". The Queen plays a major role in this balance. When this gets interrupted/interfered with, the bees react. In my case, they blamed the queen. Kept superceding her. Quite using EOs,,,no more supercedures. My thoughts were, if the EOs are safe and "natural" you can use them as needed. Good luck with that if you thought like I did. Just remember, if you are using EOs, more is not better, and timing is everything. JMHO


----------



## really_so_sorry

Thanks, Michael. Great resource there.


----------



## 2Brnt2Bee

There has been research in Egypt around various oils including grapefruitseed oil (not grapeseed oil). I know that grapefruitseed oil is highly effective against tics and lice when applied topically to humans and animals (they can't vacate the host quick enough!), and the Egyptian study shows it to be effective to some degree. Unfortunately I lost the website but if I can track it down again I'll post it.


----------



## 2Brnt2Bee

The website that this research is:

http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/support-files/lemon-juice-to-counteract-varroa.pdf


----------



## Tim B

"thymol is a powerful fungicide" That might explain why I saw a huge decrease in chalkbrood about the time I started using apiguard.


----------



## jwbee

Michael Bush said:


> >Does this bit about killing the microbes off pertain to oxalic acid vapors also?
> 
> Yes.


I have my doubts about oxalic acid killing all microbes , studies have been done on its effects of microorganisms in food and in the human gut , it was either neutral or in some cases even beneficial to growth.
It just kills the mites if done correctly.

see below:

Eight nutrients and antinutrients were selected - zinc sulphate, zinc carbonate, ferrous sulphate, ferric citrate, quercetin, gallic acid, phytic acid, and oxalic acid. Their effects on the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium bifidum, one commercially available multistrain probiotic formulation (containing six Lactobacilli and two Bifidobacterial cultures), as well as commensal E. coli, were monitored individually.



The researchers reported that quercetin and zinc sulphate significantly enhanced the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus and the multistrain formula, but that the other micronutrients had no discernible effect.



Oxalic acid, generally considered an antinutrient, also had positive effects on L. acidophilus and the multistrain formula, with no effect on growth of other probiotics.


----------



## deknow

I haven't seen that study, but the blurb posted talks about OA as a "micronutrient"....not really how it is applied as a mite treatment.
Deknow


----------



## AUXCOM

I accidently bought Peppermint oil instead of Spearment oil as need in the H-B-H recipe...lol
But they don't seem to care and go nuts over it anyway.

My recipe is 

for 800 mls of H2o 
2 drops of lemon grass oil
2 drops of peppermint oil (suppost to be spearmint oil....oh well)
1/2 tsp of apple cider vinegar (I use my keylime juice from the tree) for acidity.
I don't use the imusifier as it never seems to work so just use my hand beater for a couple of minutes and it stays mixed.

The bees go nuts over it. We will see.


----------



## Michael Bush

>Many are not impacted at all. 

EO are very broad spectrum anti microbials. I doubt that there are any microbes that are not impacted at all. They kill everything from viruses, bacteria, fungi and yeasts. Basically they are the concentrated immune system of the plants.


----------



## davidsbees

Bees have been exposed to EO'S for millions of years. Propolis contains many EO'S and is made up to aprox 15% EO'S. Propolis is one of the front line defenses in keeping the hive healthy. I use then in my syrup not having any problem with supercedures, I see the opposite.


----------



## Rader Sidetrack

davidsbees said:


> Bees have been exposed to EO'S for *millions *of years.


Rather an extreme idea, don't you think?



> An *essential oil* is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as *volatile oils*, *ethereal oils* or*aetherolea*, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as _oil of clove_. An oil is "essential" in the sense that it carries a distinctive scent, or essence, of the plant. Essential oils do not form a distinctive category for any medical, pharmacological, or culinary purpose.
> Essential oils are generally extracted by *distillation*. Steam distillation is often used. Other processes include *expression *or*solvent extraction*.
> 
> .....
> *The techniques and methods first used to produce essential oils were first mentioned by Ibn al-Baitar(1188–1248),* an Andalusian physician, pharmacist and chemist.[SUP][5][/SUP]
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_oil
> .


Just who do you you think was *extracting *essential oils from plants to expose the bees to for the past *millions *of years you refer to?

Certainly the plants themselves have been available to the bees for millions of years, but that does not mean that _essential oils _were available to the bees.

Consider that a form of alcohol has been occurring for millions of years "naturally" from fermented corn and water, but it wasn't until humans started distilling that fermented  corn and water product that whiskey was available.


----------



## davidsbees

No, unless you think the earth is only 5000 years old. Most scientists believe that bee like creatures evolved around 146-76 million years ago with honey bees 30-22 million years ago. If you're talking about propolis if you want 100% essential oils then you have to distill it from the plant. EO'S occur naturally in plant resins or sap. resins are a component of propolis. EO's are composed of many compounds.
Mankind has been enjoying the benefits of undistilled beer and wine for thousands of years!!


----------



## brooksbeefarm

I've been using Alpha 6 method for over 5 yrs. now, and for the past two years my bees produced more honey than any member of my bee club of 180 members.My hives showed little to no mite or disease problems this spring, so i never treated them (74 hives). I now have 68 hives, i combined some weak hives that i didn't think would make it through the winter. I'll probably treat again this coming spring .I credit the thyme EO in the drench spray and syrup feed for healthy hives. JMHO.
PS. yes, some have as many or more hives than i do.


----------



## rniles

Sorry for my ignorance. What is the "Alpha 6 method"?


----------



## brooksbeefarm

He's a member of this forum.


----------



## Rader Sidetrack

rniles said:


> What is the "Alpha 6 method"?


It appears to be a reference to Beesource member _alpha6_. See post #3 of this thread:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?271042-varroa-mite-question


----------



## Rusty Hills Farm

I've spent a lot of time over on Randy Oliver's site scientificbeekeeping.com reading about varroa and CCD. If I am understanding him correctly, CCD is caused by viruses that the bee normally has. These viruses are exploding and overwhelming colonies because of the stresses placed on the colony. One big stress is varroa.



> What occurs to me is that if mite wounds are infected with bacteria, then the bees will need to maintain a metabolically-expensive immune response for the rest of their lives in order to keep the bacteria in check (Hain 2008).
> 
> This bacterial infection has other consequences. Yang (2005) suggests that: “The increased replication of DWV in honey bees needs two components, varroa mite parasitization and exposure to a bacterial factor. This microbial challenge may naturally exist, because bacterial colonies are found on the varroa feeding sites in some bee pupae.” The suppression of bacterial infection by antibiotics may help mite-infested colonies to survive. *Note that “antibiotics” may include the essential oils and propolis, rather than manmade antibiotics*, the overuse of which leads to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.


Which reinforces my intention to use essential oils in my new colonies this spring. His notion that we should be looking at virus control instead of just mite control is new for me. I do intend to follow some of his other suggestions, including using resistant stock. 

If anyone is interested, the entire article can be found here:

http://http://scientificbeekeeping.com/sick-bees-part-8-time-for-a-paradigm-shift/

The entire series is also available on Dr. Oliver's site along with a lot of thought-provoking information. I'm still working my way through the links. 

HTH

Rusty


----------



## davidsbees

I have been sending bee samples to David Wick for 6 months. compared to the first non treated, the viruses have dropped greatly and DWV is non-existant. Have been using only EO'S going on 4 years no treatment for AFB or nosema for 2.


----------



## mike haney

very interesting,david. please elaborate on your method of using EO's.


----------



## davidsbees

I start with a 275 gal tote add 25 gal water. I have a mix of equeal parts
Tyme oil
Lavender
Tea tree
Lemongrass
Nat wintergreen
Peppermint 
Eucalyptus 80/85
I don't have the mix in front of me but think those are the ones I use. I take 9 oz of eo's 3 oz surficant (coco wet). Mix with 2 qt water. I blend with a hand held blender and blend till it looks like milk that is the key! I then add it to the 25 gal water then mix in 225 gal syrup with a tank mixer blending as you fill the tote. I use mixture every time I feed.
This not a recommendation to treat any pest or disease!
this is just what I do!


----------

