Abstract
Essential oils, such as thyme oil, are natural chemicals used to treat Varroa destructor infestations in western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies. We compared the effects of thyme oil/mineral oil mixtures delivered with an insect fogger or vaporizer to those of smoke from a smoker on the mortality and behavior of adult honey bees (Apis mellifera). Thyme oil delivered by fogging significantly increased caged bee mortality over that of the controls. The behaviors of thyme oil-treated bees in the observation hives were somewhat similar to those of the control bees exposed to smoke.
Acknowledgments
We thank Christopher Oster (UF) for his assistance during the experiments. We also acknowledge the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development for supporting H. F. A.-S.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.