I do not endorse or promote any particular treatment. You must satisfy yourself that whatever you treat bees with is safe to both bees and yourself and any action you take is legal. Please ascertain that the treatment you give is licensed or approved in your relevant country.

Whatever your motives, do not modify the dosage, method of delivery or time of exposure that is indicated by the manufacturers, unless you have all the facts and all the necessary knowledge of the chemistry involved and have discussed your reasons with the manufacturers as well as relevant administrative authority and gained their agreement.

I don’t know the situation in other countries, but in the U.S. it is an offence to apply treatments in any other way than what is on the instructions. This includes altering the dose or length of treatment.

I myself do not treat my hives with any chemicals, but suggest you try to rotate the treatments that you give to your bees to reduce the risk of resistance being imparted to the offending organism.

I have done some research into essential oil therapies. Most essential oil techniques are aimed at varroa and thus will appear on a Varroa Treatment page.

Thymol or menthol crystals can used directly by evaporating in a Specialized frame, or a cloth bag created for this purpose.

Various methods are used to deliver the chemicals. The Bee Institute at Dol in the Czech Republic have produced two standardised methods of fumigation. Dol strips can be used within the hive and as they smoulder they evaporate the active chemicals into a vapour that pervades the hive. They have also developed an atomiser pump that can be used to deliver the same materials as an ultra fine mist, via a flattened nozzle, direct into the hive entrance.

All Chemicals should be treated with care and respect, some of them can be dangerous to humans or other life forms. Some of these chemicals have product specific Data Sheets, but for those that do not you should still use gloves for handling strips and goggles for liquids. Organic acids require particular care, especially in apiaries that are untidy or have a rough ground surface.