> At our association apiary meeting today the opinion was expressed that varroa treatment using thymol attracts wasps to the hives. 

The first year I used thymol, one colony was immediately robbed out, the other colony was killed by a bear. The odor definitely gets the attention of marauders. 

Years ago, I was making up drums of feed for colonies at the Dyce Lab. The professor instructed me to add an ounce of licorice flavoring to each barrel, to make it more attractive to the bees.

At the time, there was a construction crew there working on the building expansion. They said they thought adding licorice to the syrup was one of the dumbest things we could do. Don't you know licorice attracts bears? they said. They can smell it miles away.

Pete

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