> >I do not cover the lid with mesh, but the bees do not seem to remove any
> thymol crystals.


Peter, do you see that the crystals indeed evaporate/sublimate?  When I
place thymol crystals in an uncovered lid, in open air, during our warms
summer, and weigh the lid daily, there is scant evaporation, just as there
was in each of my test hives.  There was no reason to repeat the
application, because plenty of (generally melted) thymol remained in the
lids.


>  > In fact they are repelled by them and some, particularly Italians I
> found in the past, will propolise the excluder round the lid as though they
> are trying to protect the brood area from the vapour


I also observed that the bees often built a fan of propolis around the rim
of the lids (but not enough to block evaporation in any way).

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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