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Date: | Sun, 4 Apr 2021 10:58:27 -0700 |
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I've been having a friendly discussion on List regarding anecdotal reports
that bees varnish the insides of brood combs with propolis, but the current
moderators will not allow me to use personal names. But rather than
correspond off List, I thought that the List might be interested in our
discussion.
The point that I was making was that it should not be difficult to
chemically confirm whether there is indeed propolis in brood combs.
I don't have LCMS capabilities at home, but I do have some basic solvents.
So this morning I scraped cells from an old and very dark brood comb, as
well as propolis of different colors from several hive covers stacked in
the yard.
I placed the samples in beakers and then added the solvents hexane,
denatured alcohol (ethanol), or acetone in order to:
1. Determine whether any of the solvents would extract the brown coloration
from propolis, and
2. If so, whether the same solvent would extract the same color from the
dark drawn comb.
I've attached a photograph of the results. They do not support the claim
that there is much propolis in old brood combs.
I do not know whether this is a myth that we need to slay. I'll copy the
USDA and Spivak labs to see whether they have performed confirmatory LCMS
or some other test.
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
530 277 4450
ScientificBeekeeping.com
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