>it appears to me that thymol is much tougher on a colony than is oxalic

I have used Apiguard in August/September and Oxalic in late December for two years now.
The Oxalic does not appear to harm the workers or queens and certainly knocks down mites.
I always get the odd colony which reacts badly to Apiguard but most are fine with it.
In the worst cases the workers uncap almost all the pupae and dump them outside.
Queens will frequently stop laying as well.

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