We are trying to evaluate what proportion of sirup
>>can be found in honey after feedind a hive.s

Vincent, there are a number of ways in which you could do this, but most
involve chemicals that you wouldn't want to consume in the honey.

You need a marker:

That can be mixed well into syrup
Will provide an unmistakable signature (doesn't normally occur in the hive)
And
Can be quantified.

Radioisotope labelling has been used, but you generally need permits and
you may be talking relatively large amounts if you intend to heavily feed a
full size hive.

I suppose there are color indicators - after all, I've seen honey range
from light amber to dark amber, purplelish, and even emerald green (in the
hive), but we haven't tried coloring syrup.

With Mike Sigman at Oak Ridge National Lab, we developed some
perfluorinated marker compounds (don't occur in nature, very volatile) in
cyclodextrin micro- capsules.  Placed in a feeder 100 meters from the hive,
it showed up in the hive within minutes (detection resolution very good).

You probably could use a perdeuterated compounds and look for its signature
in the honey.  Just be careful to pick a compound that will dissolve or
stay in uniform suspension in syrup - one that isn't repellant to bees nor
toxic.

I suppose you could also use a suspension of microbeads - and plate/count
them in the syrup and honey samples.  Labor intensive, but doesn't require
sophisticated chemical analysis instrumentation.

Just some random thoughts - the perfluorinated compounds worked well for us.

Jerry


Jerry J. Bromenshenk, Ph.D.
Director, DOE/EPSCoR & Montana Organization for Research in Energy
The University of Montana-Missoula
Missoula, MT  59812-1002
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel:  406-243-5648
Fax:  406-243-4184
http://www.umt.edu/biology/more
http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees