The principle of the plastic proprietary propolis trap just
described can be extended in home-made methods.
        I discovered one by accident with some strongly warping boards in a
top storey.  Gaps opened at the corners of the box slowly and the bees
manfully struggled to fill them with propolis which I could scrape off
directly from the outside.  At $100/kg from the wholesaler it's a high rate
of pay.

        I would like to point out that propolis is not a standard chemical
mixture.  Its composition will depend on where the bees are gathering gums,
tars etc that they can make into propolis.   The top biochemist of our bee
world, my friend Assoc Prof Peter Molan MBE (U of Waikato), has begun to
investigate it.

R

-
Robt Mann
consultant ecologist
P O Box 28878   Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
                (9) 524 2949