Bee Boost is one of a hand full of semiochemicals available.  I remember Don Mayer saying that every year, when he had a few free days, he'd load up a backpack sprayer and try a variety of these.  As I remember, he had highly variable results.
Years later, Dr. Gerry Loper, tested some new semiochemicals, working with a company specializing in designer attractants.  This was part of the DARPA funded Controlled Biological and Biomimetic Systems project.   Gerry was also working with us on queen breeding in tents.  The most interesting thing was that Gerry said that the semiochemical company asked him to pre-condition the bees to the designer semiochemical scent.
Our  own work indicates that all of these bee attractants vary considerably in terms of bee response.  The assumption is that the bees are genetically wired to be attracted - and there's some truth to that.  However, bees, like most insects, can detect difference among stereoisomers, where each of two or more compounds differ only in the spatial arrangement of their atoms.
While I was at MSU in Bozeman, doing my Ph.D., a biochemist was thrilled to get a big award from USDA to produce large quantities of pheromones for Spruce Budworm control.  He happily made up the compound.  Then he read the fine print - must show that male budworm are attracted.  No sweat, easy peasy.  Unfortunately, none of the males responded at all!  He came over to the entomology department.  He more or less panicked when he found that he had to have sufficient amounts of the proper stereoisomer of the compound for it to be attractive.  That's why his bid was successful, the competitors knew that the challenge was to produce the correct stereoisomer.  The compound itself was relatively easy.
We tried Bee Boost and some other attractants early in our bee conditioning research.  Over and above the stereoisomer issue is the problem that bees are not necessarily always responsive to being attracted to the scent of any chemical.  Responsiveness varies among bees, colonies.  Attractiveness is a function of several variables, ranging from environmental (e.g., temp, humidity, time of day), to the innate responsiveness of the bees themselves, to other confounding factors such as is there a nectar flow on? 

To provide another example, my Ph.D. research focused on chemical ethology and grasshoppers.  In general, adult grasshoppers often mate multiple times.  It's a bit like drones and queens, except that it happens daily; over and over.  Male grasshoppers fight off competing males and display to attract females.  The female mates with the most successful males.  For most grasshopper species, the female will mate, then lay a pod of eggs, then mate again.  Interestingly, for Aulocara elliotti, the female has a non-responsive period of 24-48 hrs after laying.  Any male that approaches and tries to mate will get kicked with both hind legs, literally knocking him off his feet.  Males, being aggressive, will try again; and she'll kick him away.   To summarize, for this species, mating is common, usually daily.  The female is normally receptive, although she is picky about which males succeed.  But right after laying, she's not at all responsive to mating attempts.

Back to the issue of semiochemicals, there is a way to increase the effectiveness of any attractant - pre-condition the bees to the scent.  We're hoping to do a bit more of this work in coming weeks in New Zealand.
Jerry



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