The Effect of DDT on Honeybees

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Abstract
Bees placed in a cage that had previously been sprayed with 2% DDT in oil suffered heavy mortalities up to 150 days after spraying. Bees in cages were dusted with 1, 2, and 3% DDT dusts. At 1% some bees survived, but in the other lots all died within 15 hrs. A frame of broodless comb treated with 2% DDT dust had little effect on the colony. Other treatments with low-per cent dusts gave similar results. A 20% DDT dust produced numerous dead bees, among them the queen, over a period of about 2 days. Bees feeding on queen cage candy containing from 1% to 4% DDT were all killed. However, 2% DDT in a pollen-syrup paste had little effect on brood or bees. Amts. of from 1 part DDT in from 4300 to 28,000 parts of 20% sugar fed to bees produced 100% mortality in 24 hrs. At lower concs, the mortality decreased until zero was reached at 1 part DDT to 108,000 parts of syrup. Through this and other tests the median lethal dosage was established at approx. 1 part DDT to 73,000 parts of syrup. The author concludes that DDT is both a stomach and a contact poison and warns that indiscriminate use of sprays and dusts containing DDT may produce heavy mortality in nearby apiaries.

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