Insecticidal Poisoning of Honey Bees in Connecticut

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Abstract
Eight insecticides were identified from 43 samples of honey bees obtained from 35 beekeepers in 1981 and 1982. A total of 268 colonies were documented to have been contaminated from May through early October. Carbaryl was detected in 65% of the samples. Methyl parathion and methoxychlor were found in 30 and 14% of the samples, respectively. Other insecticides in honey bees included endosuIfan, chlordane, malathion, diazinon, and acephate. Two simultaneously occurring insecticides were present in 28% of the samples. Residues in brood-nest comb tended to be higher than in dead bees. Most colonies contaminated only by carbaryl recovered, though 9% succumbed. Of the colonies experiencing methyl parathion or dual methyl parathion and carbaryl or endosulfan poisonings, 77% were killed or severely weakened. The majority of incidents involving carbaryl and methoxychlor were reported in May and June, when extensive ground spraying of trees for gypsy moth control occurred. Commercially grown crops treated with carbaryl may have been the principal sources of contaminated bees in July and August. Bees died from methyl parathion from July through September, when its application to orchards and sweet cornfields was common.

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