# Canphor oil and bee pest



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I know according to Huber it repels bees...


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Essential oils are bad for bees; They will get you queenless, increased mortality rate, increased stress, increased vulnerability to diseases, destroys bee probiotics and won't do much for mites...

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ghting-mites-with-syrup&p=1330440#post1330440


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## roberthallock (Mar 9, 2017)

I would like to say thank you to Michael bush and FlowerPlanter for your information. I did not know if canphor oil, or any essential oils, could be hazardous to the life cycle of bees.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

"4th Experiment: Although camphor displeases bees, their attraction to honey destroys this repugnance

"I placed some camphor at the entrance of a hive, and I noticed that the bees, both in coming home and going to the field, turned aside in the air to avoid passing directly over this material. I attracted some with honey upon a card; while their trunks were all dipped into the honey, I brought the camphor towards their mouths and all took flight. They flew about some time in my cabinet, and at last settled beside the honey; while they were sucking it with their trunks, I threw fragments of camphor into it; they receded a little, still keeping the end of the trunk in the honey, and we observed that they first took that which was not covered with camphor. One of them vibrated her wings while feeding; others agitated them seldom and others not at all. Wishing to see what a greater quantity of camphor would cause, I covered the honey entirely with it, and the bees took flight instantly. I carried the card to my hives, to ascertain whether other bees would be less attracted by the odor of the honey than repulsed by the odor of the camphor; and I also placed pure honey within their reach on another card; the latter was soon discovered and the honey consumed in a few minutes. An hour elapsed before a single worker approached the camphorated card; at length one or two bees alighted upon it and thrust their trunks into the edge of the drop of honey. Their number gradually augmented, and two hours after it was covered by them, all the honey was carried off and only the camphor remained on the card.

"These experiments prove that although camphor displeases bees, their attraction to honey destroys the effect of this repugnance, and that there are odors which repel them without vitiating the air."--Francis Huber, Huber's New Observations on Bees, Chapter IX


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## southernstingapiary (2 mo ago)

I don't have much experience with this, but I can tell you, I've seen a bee removal video where camphor powder was blown into the entrance hole of a hive. This hive was inside a utility pole. The bees were very displeased with it. The man in the video was able to collect the bees because they all gathered outside the hive. I can't find the powder here. It's available in other countries. I did however blend Camphor cubes into a powder and blew about half a cup into an entrance of a hive I'm doing a Trap-out on today. Within 5 minutes hundreds of bees were gathered outside the hive. They didn't want to go back in. A 10 frame medium hive box was placed for them next to their hive entrance. I placed 5 frames in it with used comb. I'll update how this works out.


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