Peter Dillon said:

> 3. Urinate into the box...

> Comments(esp. from Jim Fischer!) and observations awaited.

Ce qui?  Quest-ce que cest?  Qui je?

I'm not touching THAT "beekeeping practice" with an 11-foot pole!

But it should be fairly easy to figure out quickly which
component of urine is the "active ingredient", in this, ummmm...
"application", if the phenomena is not just a hoax/myth, like
the old "banging pans" to bring down a swarm technique or the
100,000 other bit of foolishness associated with beekeeping
(like the one that came up this week about an entire colony
suddenly becoming less aggressive today just because you
re-queened yesterday!  What a hoot!)

If I recall my biochem correctly, human urine is mostly:

  a) Uric acid
  b) various phosphates (mostly magnesium and ammonium)
  c) Calcium oxalate

Now the uric acid ("urea" to doctors) was the root cause of the
distinctive ammonia stench of the Paris Metro before they cleaned
the place up.  The breakdown of urea to ammonia is going to happen,
and happen quickly once the urea is exposed to oxygen and bacteria
(they do the actual "breakdown" work).

So, if the "active ingredient" turns out to be either the ammonia,
or one of the compounds that breaks down into the ammonia, that would
be an odor I would not want anywhere NEAR even the smallest amount of
wax or honey, no matter how good the short-term results might be.


        jim (A new proverb - "He who urinates in a beehive
           gets stung where he was never stung before!")

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