How does Sevin kill honey bees.Do they eat it ,breath it,or do they absorb it while gathering nectar?

Question

I have seen a farmer's bee hives destroyed when the wind shifted while a fertilizer/chemical spraying company was spraying a nearby corn field with liquid Sevin. Wouldn't the sevin have killed the bees even if the wind had not shifted.I guess what I want to know how the sevin kills insects.

Answer 1

Most insecticides dehydrate the bugs to death, kind of like boric acid. It's the same thing, it gets on them and they start to dry out, and drop to the ground and have a seizure like state, and pass on.

Answer 2

Sevin will kill if all they do is walk thru it and get it on them... so if it's on pollen, that's a kill, too... airborne is another kill.... this is a sad case.... I hope you're considering helping the beekeeper, since you saw it happen............

Answer 3

i bet they brought it back to the queen and the whole nest was destroyed.

Answer 4

Sevin is a CONTACT pesticide. The hives were destroyed because the wind shifted and the Sevin drifted to the hives. As soon as the Sevin contacted the bees they were killed.

And if the hives were killed by drift from another farm, the beekeeper has every legal right to sue for damages.

Pesticide applicators MUST be licensed in every state. They MUST ensure that the pesticide that they are using does not drift off of the area they are spraying.

I am in college for a degree in Horticulture, and I had to take classes specifically for pesticide handling.

What happened with the drift and the bees was a VERY SERIOUS accident. The applicator could lose his license for that accident.

Answer 5

The active ingredient in Sevin is Carbaryl which kills indiscriminately through ingestion or on contact.  (It is highly toxic even to humans!)