>Also, just because some bees exposed to initial placement of Thymol in a
hive shy away from it, doesn't mean that other bees will be tasked, or task
themselves with removing it later, once the hive is put back together...

This occurs with both thymol and formic acid--initially strongly repellent,
then the focus of removal.  As far as I can tell, the action of thymol
against varroa generally has to do with the bees mechanically moving it
through the hive, although with Apilife VAR, the extreme fanning response
to the eucalyptol may be involved.

The real question, then, is the actual mode of action of thymol against
varroa.  Even with strong doses, I don't observe any mortality of mites
above that of pupae in sealed brood cells (the mites in cells containing
pupae are still alive).

Pupae are often removed near a strong dose, but I don't know whether it is
because they were killed, since they are still bright white when removed.
So I'm not clear whether the thymol vapors actually penetrated the cappings.

It's clear that some thymol treatments kill varroa.  It would be helpful to
understand exactly the mode of action.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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