Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: Titus on April 16, 2009, 12:45:16 pm

Title: Honey Bee Healthy ?
Post by: Titus on April 16, 2009, 12:45:16 pm

I got the recipe (homemade) from here and made it last night.  The store was out of lecithin granules, so I got the lecithin oil.  Does anyone know if the oil vs granules makes a difference?  When mixing it, some of the oils were building up on the sides of the pan, I assume at least some of it got dissolved in the syrup...

Thanks
Titus

Title: Re: Honey Bee Healthy ?
Post by: rast on April 16, 2009, 05:24:15 pm

 You need to use the granules. The lecithin oil will do what you saw and also float to the top and when they get to that part of the feed it will be very oily, not only from the lecithin oil, but the essential oils as well. It can kill or sicken bees. The lecithin is an emulsifier, when the granules dissolve they hold the oils in suspension in the syrup. The granules can be difficult to dissolve. But they will.

Title: Re: Honey Bee Healthy ?
Post by: Titus on April 17, 2009, 10:20:09 am

Thanks, I guess I can use the granules in the mix I already have and hopefully dissolve/disperse the essential oils and lecithin oil, or should I start over?

Thanks

Title: Re: Honey Bee Healthy ?
Post by: Robo on April 17, 2009, 10:37:28 am

You can try to get it dissolved,  but if it doesn't, you can probably suck the oil off the top with a paper towel so the syrup is not wasted.