# Super-Boost



## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

February 14, 2010

Does anyone have comments about the use and application of this product. Our ABC contibuted money got the research.

http://www.mannlakeltd.net/publications/product/SB-100 Superboost instructions.pdf

Thanks,
Ernie


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

BEES4U said:


> February 14, 2010
> 
> Does anyone have comments about the use and application of this product.


Yes I do big Ernie,

Why buy fluff, why not apply a good sub?????? That way you have the real deal, PLUS, real brood that = real bees, that bring in real pollen! WOW what a concept!

Just one more product, from the fluff master's.


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## chillardbee (May 26, 2005)

I thought this might be of intrest


Brood pheromone regulation of honey bee behaviors and physiology affecting colony growth
Tanya Pankiw, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840

The effect of long-term treatment with brood pheromone (a synthetic blend of fatty acid esters extractable from the surface of larvae) on honey bee colony brood rearing was tested. Newly initiated colonies were equalized for number of bees and amounts of empty space, stored pollen and honey, and treated for 28 days with brood pheromone. Pheromone treated colonies reared a significantly greater brood area than controls while amount of stored pollen remained statistically similar. Pheromone treated colonies, on average, reared 995.2 ± 95.2 se more adult bees than control colonies. Increased colony growth occurred as a consequence of brood pheromone acting on multiple complementary behavioral and physiological mechanisms. Overall, pollen intake by pheromone treated colonies was significantly greater than controls such that a greater ratio of pollen to non-pollen foragers throughout the experimental period and pollen load weights were significantly greater in pheromone treated colonies. Additionally, age of first foraging was significantly younger in pheromone treated colonies compared to controls, and novice foragers were significantly more likely to return carrying pollen. Hypopharyngeal gland protein content in 7, 14, and 21 day old bees was significantly greater in pheromone treated colonies. Combined, the latter two effects suggest that brood pheromone exerted bi-directional effects on behavioral and physiological ontogeny allocating the adult work force toward brood rearing specific tasks. Brood nest bees showed an increased and extended capacity to rear larvae whereas novice foragers were recruited at a younger age into pollen specific foraging. Mechanisms of brood pheromone induced increased pollen intake include increased proportion of pollen foragers, increased pollen load weight, and decreased pollen forager in-hive turnaround time. In conclusion, honey bee larval pheromones played a significant role across multiple levels of colony organization for dividing labor and allocating protein resources associated with an important fitness trait, colony growth.

and this

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1088586/pdf/PB010163.pdf


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## Bud Dingler (Feb 8, 2008)

just another unnatural additive to confuse the situation latter when inevitably the hives crash. 

i thought i read somewhere this steroid for bees may encourage non foragers to forage earlier. great nothing like messing up the natural cycle of brood and nurse bees.


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

Sounds like this stuff might be a cousin of neonictinoids...messes up bees natural behavior!


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## Skinner Apiaries (Sep 1, 2009)

Sounds like useful stuff. Its probably like all those steroids they feed cows, everyone gets cancer eating the beef, but hey, they sure can grow some cows.


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

I thought I remembered at least one thread on this subject in the past. Here are three:



http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214896&highlight=super-boost

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218375&highlight=super-boost

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220372&highlight=super-boost


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## Bud Dingler (Feb 8, 2008)

you can tell its almost spring when the same stuff gets pounded over and over and over.


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## chillardbee (May 26, 2005)

Wow. Did any of you guys even read what I posted above. If so, how did you reach your conclusions. This product is not introducing chemicals that are foriegn to a hive like the various medications for mite control or antibiotics. The same arguments that you use against this product could be used against feeding sugar syrup or pollen substitute or supplement because these too are 'chemicals' that have been through prossesses as well, even if just to purify them.

The chemicals used in superboost are quite natural to a healthy hive of bees. The larva emit pheromone for a number of reasons, most notable to allow the bees to know it is still alive and needs food and also has a bio-chemical effect on the adult bee by stimulating the hyperpherangyl glands and determining the division of labour between different age bees.

Make no mistake in assuming that these chemicals are not in your hives, with out them, your bees would die. It is not like neo-nic that promotes confusion and mortality to bees nor is it a cancer causing steroid. So let me explian to you all what this is and what it does.

The 10 known chemicals associated with larva pheromone are the methyl groups of 5 fatty acid esters and ethyl group of 5 fatty acid esters of linoleate, linolenate, palmitate, oleate, and stearate. the percentages used each was determined by gas chartiography of 4-5 day old larva. 

At anytime in your hive there is an X number of 4-5 day old larva. As the bees build up through the spring, this number increase as does the pheromone. from early spring to the time when the colony is in full swing that number of larva can be from 100-300 to 800-1200 respectively. If the existing pheromone is increased to an extra 600-800 larva equivalents daily, the bees are 'tricked' in a way into thinking there is more mouths to feed brood food to. This causes the bees to collect more pollen even though the actual amount of larva is still the same as would be in an unstimulated colony at first. Also, the brood foods glands are stimulated to produce more brood food too and they have the pollen to eat to do this. In turn this stimulates the queen to lay more eggs. Because the bees are bringing in more pollen and because the brood food glands have been stimulated above normal, these larva that are are being fed are healthier and in a state of higher nutrition. not only is that going to increase the amount of healthier bees in your colony but it will also boost the immune system of the bees as well as a result of that nutrition. PS, young queens are an asset to all this.

Spring management of your colonies are important. It is the time when what you do to your colonies will determine what kind of honey crop you will have. You can not control the weather, the flora to some extent through migratory moves, but the population of the hive can be controlled and maximized so that if the flora and weather do line up, you can capitalize on it. I feel this product has merit and has potential but I won't use it, It's just way to expensive and besides, I have a simular product for my bees that works better then super boost.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Thank you for your posting Chillard Willard!
Ernie


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## Allen Dick (Jan 10, 2009)

> I have a simular product for my bees that works better then super boost.

And it is ... ?


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## chillardbee (May 26, 2005)

Those who want to know, PM me.


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

thanks for you informative post Chillard, very interesting:thumbsup:


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

The pheromones works for the honey bees for more than 65million years, are there a reason to mix it up?? 

Some humans are greedy and trying to get everything out of the poor creature. 
Hopefully they not create a second CCD or even worse. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bee_pheromones

IMO the creator of that product should better work on something to get rid of the deceases our bees have to battle with instead to make them more trouble.


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## chillardbee (May 26, 2005)

Axtmann said:


> IMO the creator of that product should better work on something to get rid of the deceases our bees have to battle with instead to make them more trouble.


 Funny you should mention that. This product is actually designed so that with out the use of antibiotics, The immune system of the honey bee is built up through higher nutrition. Healthy, large population hives are less like to get desease. 

By the way, this product is fairly new to the market. The cost is next to prohibitive IMO. Like a lot of other products that have been introduce to the feild of beekeeping, opinions vary. but in all fairness to the good people of the forum, what is natural that we as beekeepers do to our bees? Feeding syrup or protien patties? giving them any kind of treatment for the control of mites? moving bees from one place to anothr? controling swarming habits? taking surplus honey away? keeping bees in boxes with removable frames and going through them with a smoker? Bees are a live stock, if I didn't love them to take care of them, they would die. 

Bees aren't even natural to the Americas nor is the enviroment that they live in. For all the agricultural crops that are being grown with the use of insecticides, herbicides, fugicides, and fertilizers, that too, is not the natural enviroment of the bees.


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