>Has anyone reading this had experience with Bee Boost, either pro or con?

I was a student at the Simon Fraser master class with Dr. Winston at the time QMP was first being introduced. He said at that time that it was a useful but incomplete replication of the real thing. It is a blend of 5 synthetic versions of the known 9 pheromone biochemicals. 5 from the mandibular glands others probably from the tergite glands. In addition to the applications you note he specifically said it had little effect on swarm prevention and only when applied at the rate of one strip per day. I recall a discussion on this list not to long ago when some were claiming that they had success with swarm prevention and holding full sized queen-less colonys waiting for a replacement. I have found it beneficial in holding first generation mating nucs waiting for a cell and in keeping bulk queen-less bees calm. My experience is that it last about 3-4 days. They claim up to 3 weeks. During that time the bees will form a retinue around it similar to a queen. They also introduced a version that was meant to be sprayed on hard to pollinate crops (pears) but I believe that that product is no longer in production. The text from that class is a paper "The Essence of Royalty: Honey Bee Queen Pheromone", Winston & Slessor American Scientist, Vol. 80.

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

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