Honey B Healthy Concentrate

[Understudy]

Hi All,

I have been playing mad scientist in my kitchen, much to the chagrin of my wife who reminds me that she just mopped the floors.

While the Honey B Healthy recipe is available even here.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,19276.msg145059.html#msg145059
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,6296.0.html
and in a bunch of other places on this forum. Let's face it. This recipe is for stuff you can put in a feeder and give to the bees. It is not the recipe for the concentrate. Which is what you buy from the bee suppliers.

So this is a recipe for the concentrate.

So after going and making a nice smelling kitchen and house. And about 14 batches I think I have what I want. Please note this is pretty raw experimentation stage.

Let's look at the ingredients.

Lecithin Granules. Available at most health food stores. I got mine at The Vitamin Shop. Big jar cost me about $15 as I recall.
Spearmint Oil. Ebay was my friend here. 8oz/.25L cost $17.00 which is a bit high but it was a decent sized bottle.
Lemongrass Oil. I bought a 16oz/.5L bottle for around $18.00 about a year ago.
Sucrose, Table sugar. 5lb/2.2KG
Water. Got it from the sink your price may vary.

Now in the normal recipe you are doing the sugar water mix 1:1 and then added a small amount of lecithin and a few drops of lemongrass and spearmint oils. It is a very good recipe and you certainly should use it.

Of course the old adage is oil and water don't mix. However that is what the lecithin is for. Let's do this:
1 cup water (approximately 8 fluid oz/.25 L) heated to just about boiling, but not quite. 190F / 88C.
1 cup sugar
Place in blender and blend at low speed until sugar is dissolved in water. Should take a few seconds not more.
Remember next time to place the lid on the blender. (This step if missed can cause an unhappy spouse).
Add 6 heaping tablespoons of lecithin granules.
Turn the blender on at a low speed cycle for just a few seconds. I know not everything dissolved but don't worry we will get back to it.
Add 1/4 teaspoon spearmint oil
Add 1/4 teaspoon lemongrass oil

Turn blender on at low speed for a minute ( it doesn't have to be exact ).

If you have done everything right you should notice the lemongrass oil slightly. You should have a pale looking orange juice (think pale yellow). Put some on your finger and rub your fingers together it should have a slightly viscous (thick) feel to it. That will get better as it cools down. So if you do it when it's warm it may not feel as viscous.

Now take this and store in a bottle or whatever will hold approximately 16oz of fluid.

Do not feed this directly to your bees.

When you are ready you make your sugar water mix and add a little of the concentrate to the sugar water. If I recall the amount is 1 teaspoon to 1 quart.


Please note the real Honey B Healthy has sodium lauryl sulfate it is a surfactant. Also know as a wetting agent. If you really want a wetting agent you can add a small amount of Yucca Juice. 

Please feel free to make any corrections or suggestions. If you know of another emulsifier besides lecithin that is cool too.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[John Schwartz]

Great info. Thx tons!

[Jumpstart]

I have been looking for a Honey B Healthy concentrate recipe myself.  It seems every one I have found is just a repost of the same recipe that Brendhan has pointed out in this post. 

While the Honey B Healthy recipe is available even here.
forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,19276.msg145059
forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,6296.0
and in a bunch of other places on this forum. Let's face it. This recipe is for stuff you can put in a feeder and give to the bees. It is not the recipe for the concentrate. Which is what you buy from the bee suppliers.

I'm not sure that these recipes are a concentrate.  The recipe that Brendhan posts here seems to be the same concentration of lemongrass and spearmint oils as the other posts just in different measures.  1/4 teaspoon = 15 drops of thick liquid (source: germancorner.com/recipes/hints/units).  Does any one have any other recipes than what has already been stated here?  Thanks.

[Understudy]

My experiments in working on making this show that if you go much more then that you really over power the mix. However please go ahead and try to make some at your own ratio. If you come up with a mix you feel better with that is awesome. Then please share it.

[DCHoneybees]

Made some myself last week with inspiration from your recipe and another from this forum.

Here is the link:
http://dchoneybees.blogspot.com/2011/03/test-run-of-homemade-honey-bee-healthy.html

Powerful stuff.  Still running my blender in the dishwasher to remove the essence.

The bees do not seem to be taking this mix with the same enthusiasm as my general bee tea in my open feeding experiment.  The jury remains in deliberations at this point as to the benefits.  My next experiment will be to add some of the homemade potion to a bee tea solution as see if it improves take-up.

[Understudy]

Made some myself last week with inspiration from your recipe and another from this forum.

Here is the link:
http://dchoneybees.blogspot.com/2011/03/test-run-of-homemade-honey-bee-healthy.html

Powerful stuff.  Still running my blender in the dishwasher to remove the essence.

The bees do not seem to be taking this mix with the same enthusiasm as my general bee tea in my open feeding experiment.  The jury remains in deliberations at this point as to the benefits.  My next experiment will be to add some of the homemade potion to a bee tea solution as see if it improves take-up.

I am glad you made the mix. I am sorry to hear it did not work as well for you. I have renamed mine Brendhan's Bee Crack. When I did a side by side non scientific study. The buckets in an open feeding with Bee Crack as compared to regular sugar water were empty two days faster.

My results have shown that it works well for me when there is not a flow on. If there is a flow then they tend to ignore it and the sugar water.

Please continue and let me know how it does in the mix with the tea.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[theriverhawk]

Made some....definitely had more similar consistency to actual HBH concentrate than other recipes. 

Just curious as to thoughts on shelf life?  I made about 2 gallons of feed and added this concentrate.  The next day, I noticed the jar of concentrate had turned a hard burnt orange color instead of the yellowish it was the day before.

[Understudy]

Made some....definitely had more similar consistency to actual HBH concentrate than other recipes. 

Just curious as to thoughts on shelf life?  I made about 2 gallons of feed and added this concentrate.  The next day, I noticed the jar of concentrate had turned a hard burnt orange color instead of the yellowish it was the day before.

Yes, I have had that happen when the emulsifier (lecithin) doesn't dissolve properly. It takes a real high speed blender mixing the lecithin and then adding it to the mix. You end up with a red mix with lots of graininess. The mix is still good but it tends to not mix as well with the sugar water.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[jcarry]

Hy everyone my name is jcarry.i want to share somthing with you about topic
HONEY-B-HEALTHY is a honeybee feeding stimulant composed of lemongrass and spearmint oil concentrate. HONEY-B-HEALTHY helps promote healthy vigorous hives when used as a feeding stimulant. Use as a feeding stimulant for late winter, early spring, and during dearth's of nectar. Also add to your feeding mix to help build up packages, nucs and swarms.
I AM USING IT AND IT IS THE BEST

[Understudy]

Hy everyone my name is jcarry.i want to share somthing with you about topic
HONEY-B-HEALTHY is a honeybee feeding stimulant composed of lemongrass and spearmint oil concentrate. HONEY-B-HEALTHY helps promote healthy vigorous hives when used as a feeding stimulant. Use as a feeding stimulant for late winter, early spring, and during dearth's of nectar. Also add to your feeding mix to help build up packages, nucs and swarms.
I AM USING IT AND IT IS THE BEST

You must be new here.

Outside of blatant spamming. Nobody here is trashing  HBH. They ar3e just looking for a slightly less expensive alternative. Come back when you have turned your brain on.

[showme bob]

This post was just what I needed.  Not sure if I'll get a response two years later, but we'll give it a shot.

I had heard about Honey B Healthy and assumed it had some nutrient value to enhance sugar water to suppliment bees.  Mostly what I am reading is the mixture seems to enhance uptake of the sugar water.  Can any of you tell me if adding the spearmint and lemon grass oil helps the bees health?   After a very dry summer and fall I need to get some hives stocked up for winter and want to give them the best chance to come out of winter stronger.  We'll still have some 60 and 70 degrees days in the next 2-3 weeks.

[capt44]

Here is the recipe I use but it only calls for 1/8 teaspoon of Lecithin Granuales.
Note: don't spill around hives it will attract honeybees.

Homemade Pro Health or Honeybee Healthy Mix

5 cups water
2 ½ pounds of sugar
1/8 teaspoon lecithin granules (used as an emulsifier)
1 teaspoon or 15 drops  spearmint oil
1 teaspoon or 15 drops lemongrass oil
1 teaspoon or 15 drops Tea Tree oil
Use hot water to mix the sugar and water.
While mixture is hot add the Lecithin Granuales, spearmint oil and lemon grass oil.
Put ingredients in a blender and mix for 4 minutes.

add 1 teaspoon per quart of syrup
The emulsifier can be bought at a health food store.
It lets the oils and water mix.
Makes 2 quarts
NOTE:1-  When installing new foundations or a super spray the foundations with this mixture added to the sugar syrup, the bees will fill out the foundation a lot faster.
2-You can also spray down a cluster or colony of bees to calm them down.
3-It will also cut down on fermentation of the sugar syrup on warm days.

[Michael Bush]

It will kill off the bacteria that live in the gut of the bee and protect them from Nosema, AFB, EFB and chalkbrood and probably interfere with the yeast and bacteria used to make bee bread...
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0033188

And other possible effects when you kill the bacteria and yeasts:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0026796

On the other hand IF they already had Nosema, it might help with that.  If they do NOT, however, it will make them more susceptible...

[Understudy]

Hi Michael,

Did you reply in the wrong thread? I read both studies and they don't have a connection to HBH.

Study 1)
Symbionts as Major Modulators of Insect Health: Lactic Acid Bacteria and Honeybees

From the study:

We analysed the microbial composition of 15 flowers frequently visited by A. mellifera in Sweden (Table S1). Flowers were collected aseptically in Kullaberg, Sweden. The flowers were then shaken in sterile buffer (PBS) and immediately transported to the Laboratory at Lund University. Dilutions were made with sterile peptone water (0.2% w/v), spread on MRS (Oxoid), APT (Oxoid) and TSB (Oxoid) agar plates incubated anaerobically at 35°C (MRS and APT agar plates) and aerobically at 22°C (TSB agar plates) during 5 days. Identification of the microbial isolates was achieved by sequencing the 16S rRNA genes (for bacteria) [16] and the D1-D2 regions of the LSU 26S rRNA genes (for yeasts) [54].

Study 2)
Killing Them with Kindness? In-Hive Medications May Inhibit Xenobiotic Efflux Transporters and Endanger Honey Bees

From the study:

Many bee hives receive regular treatments of oxytetracycline and acaricides for prevention and treatment of disease and parasites. Our results suggest that seasonal co-application of these medicines to bee hives could increase the adverse effects of these and perhaps other pesticides. Our results also demonstrate the utility of a mechanism-based strategy. By identifying pesticides and apicultural medicines that are substrates and inhibitors of xenobiotic transporters we prioritize the testing of those chemical combinations most likely to result in adverse interactions.

Study 1 is about nectar in flowers.
Study 2 is about chemicals used to treat diseases and pests.

HBH is neither. It is a supplement added to sugar water. It contains nothing mentioned in either study.The ingredients contain nothing mentioned in either study. So I have to admit I am scratching my head.

 

[Understudy]

This post was just what I needed.  Not sure if I'll get a response two years later, but we'll give it a shot.

I had heard about Honey B Healthy and assumed it had some nutrient value to enhance sugar water to suppliment bees.  Mostly what I am reading is the mixture seems to enhance uptake of the sugar water.  Can any of you tell me if adding the spearmint and lemon grass oil helps the bees health?   After a very dry summer and fall I need to get some hives stocked up for winter and want to give them the best chance to come out of winter stronger.  We'll still have some 60 and 70 degrees days in the next 2-3 weeks.

I know the bees in my yard show a preference for the sugar water with HBH. I do not know if it improves the health of the bees. However it has certainly helped them in my yard. The idea behind HBH is to help build up weak or starter hives, or to help bees that don't have enough resources. It is not a daily supplement for the long term.

[Dave360]

I use the common recipe for HBH and it seams to work haven't used a blender yet as I need to get one from good will or garage sale since I figure as someone posted getting out the spearmint smell may be nest to impossible I mainly use it as I did the real HBH to help control the black fungus that grows in the sugar water with out it .  I use 4-5 tbs to each 4 to 4.5 gallon bucket of 2-1 I make then dilute  the 2-1 to 1-1 if needed . It seams to help keep black fungus down and the bees don't seam to mind and I have heard it helps with Nosema
and remember that Honey is itself anti fungal  anti bacterial

David

[Bee-Mover]

Thanks for posting!

I hadn't taken the time to learn about HBH, only seeing it sold.  I had assumed that it contained some sort of nutritional value, but it I'm understanding what I've read, it only stimulates feeding?

If so, then it should only be used in the spring to encourage the hive to get going?

[critter]

we live in fl. .so we get time in the winter to go in the hive's when the temp. is up ,to change the beetle traps.last year we put sugar cake on top of the frames. like everyone . so we can't  see how much honey is in it.don't like that. so this year when we made we put the candy in medium frames,are frames are wire,2 across and 3 up and down[no we don't use foundation in are hives] and we put the frames in. we use a old plastic sing cut for the back and 4 rubber bands to hole it to top and bottom . it takes 4 lb. of sugar for each frame .it is working very will .can't wait tell it gets warm ,so we can see how it is doing .we will lat you know how it is doing . my little girl came up with ,she 8 .she got into beekeeping a little over 2 years ago.with a cut out we took out of a house i cut the grass at.she has 18 hives now.and is making more for spring,we make are hive.    you will like her new beetle traps .there one for top bar and one for langstroth .so when you make your H B H  ,for your sugar cake you may what to frame them.                                                                   

[johng]

Thanks for the recipe. I open feed quite a bit in the fall and I normally add a couple drops of lemon grass oil to help the bees find the syrup faster. If I don't sometimes they won't find the syrup until the next day. I will make up a batch of your recipe and see how it goes. Thanks

[capt44]

The recipe I posted earlier is what I add to my syrup.
When feeding hive be extra careful not to spill it around the hive.
It will attract bees and can cause a robbing situation.
The Tea Tree Oil is suppose to be a natural way to control Nosema.
To give an example on how strong an attractant it is.
I made up a batch and decided to go feed my bees.
When I came back in the house there were about 4-500 bees inside the house.
What I found was a window frame I had drilled two 3/8 inch holes for water drainage.
The bees got that scent and here they came.
They was a cluster on the sill about the size of a football of bees trying to get in the house.
I put some cotton balls in the holes and spent another 45 minutes catch bees and releasing them outside.