Author Topic: Queen Tincture?  (Read 13038 times)

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Offline Jen

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Queen Tincture?
« on: April 22, 2022, 03:43:47 pm »
Iddee, what is the purpose of putting the queen in alcohol?
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Offline iddee

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2022, 06:15:57 pm »
1. Easiest way to kill her.

2.. Makes a good swarm lure for your swarm trap.
Leaves the pheromone and evaporates the alcohol in the trap.
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
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Offline Jen

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2022, 01:56:21 am »
Iddee, I was in a hive today and the queen is old and ran out of gas. So I got her and put her in the jar with alcohol. I already have a swarm trap set up on our back bank for about a week now. I put a drop of lemongrass oil and a frame of dark wax in the trap. Should I let the queen dry off for awhile before adding her to the trap tomorrow?




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Offline iddee

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2022, 05:55:50 am »
No. Give it a few more days, then just add a few drops of alcohol to the landing board about weekly. Keep adding queens to the lure as you have them. The alcohol evaporates and leaves the pheromone smell.
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2022, 12:03:51 pm »
Queen Tincture.  This conversation just got interesting!

Offline Jen

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2022, 12:14:02 pm »
I'm intrigued about this alcohol lure. But what if I'm not going to have another queen this season to add to the lure... but need the swarm lure right now? Can I simply put the queen in the swarm trap?

Then, if i catch a swarm can I simply put the alcohol queen back into the jar for future use... ?

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Offline Jen

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2022, 12:30:30 pm »
"Queen Tincture. This conversation just got interesting!"

Baker! Love the term Queen Tincture! This should be it's own subject.

Last year I bought some Swarm Commander gel hanging thingies from Blythewood Bee Company. With tax this is close to $20 for just one.

https://blythewoodbeecompany.com/collections/swarm-commander/products/swarm-commander-super-lure

Love that I can make my own Queen Tincture with my own queens, or anyone else's dead queens. Fascinating!


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Offline iddee

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2022, 09:43:05 pm »
I can only tell you what I know. Anything else is research.
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2022, 10:53:40 pm »
Wait.. am I doing it wrong???   I put a swab of the tincture in the hive NOT the dead queen?
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Offline Zweefer

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2022, 12:04:02 am »
 Correct. I dab a q-tip in the alcohol and put that in the trap.


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Offline Jen

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2022, 02:49:17 am »
Fascinating!

Jen: "Should I let the queen dry off for awhile before adding her to the trap tomorrow?"

Iddee: "No. Give it a few more days, then just add a few drops of alcohol to the landing board about weekly. Keep adding queens to the lure as you have them. The alcohol evaporates and leaves the pheromone smell."

So I'm reading this as put the queen in the alcohol, which lets the pheromone perfume up the alcohol. Which i'm assuming can be rubbing alcohol or vodka. Then after a few days put a few drops onto the landing board.

In my case, my queen was only in the alcohol overnight. So that's not very potent pheromone alcohol. I took my queen out of the alcohol and placed her directly in the swarm trap. When and if I catch a swarm, I'll retrieve her from the bees and put her back in the alcohol.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2022, 05:41:09 am »
Alcohol is a preservative. Without it, she will rot away in a day or two, or the ants will eat her.
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
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Offline Zweefer

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Queen Tincture?
« Reply #12 on: April 24, 2022, 08:46:32 am »
I use Spirytus Vodkafor my tinctures. If unavailable, ever clear is probably your next best bet
I personally wold never drink either  :o
« Last Edit: April 25, 2022, 12:57:54 am by Zweefer »
Keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2022, 06:52:05 pm »
I personally wold never drink either

   NOPE! Me either!!!!  ever again!     :laugh:
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Offline Jen

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #14 on: April 24, 2022, 11:23:50 pm »
Aaand Thhhen there is Diesel Grain 190 ~ 153 proof, which of course would make me throw up.

Think I'll get me some cheap Absolute 80 proof for the Queen Tincture  :D
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Offline tedh

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #15 on: April 25, 2022, 06:06:22 pm »
I like the term queen tincture but starting to groove on "essential oil of queen" as a very close second!
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #16 on: April 25, 2022, 10:45:00 pm »
I like the term queen tincture but starting to groove on "essential oil of queen" as a very close second!

   OH Politically correct!!!!!   HEY TED!!!!!
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Offline Jen

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2022, 11:30:53 pm »
Good one Ted  ;)  Essential Oil of Roil T
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Offline rober

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #18 on: August 19, 2022, 09:46:06 am »
this is several years worth of retired queens. i've not seen this as being effective. if i set a caged queen or 2 down on say the rail of my truck bed 5-20 bees will congregate on that spot for up to a week. as an experiment i've done the same thing with a q-tip dipped in my queen juice & the bees showed no interest. i did the same thing around my hives with no shown interest.



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Offline Zweefer

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Re: Queen Tincture?
« Reply #19 on: August 21, 2022, 02:35:22 am »
Interesting Rober. So when we get swarmed in the traps, it might be in spite of our effort. An interesting confirmation bias happening here then…
I may have to experiment myself next time I get a caged queen.
Keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.
Henry David Thoreau