I searched forum but couldn't find a good match to this question. I know Thymol is used in bee treatments. We have an herb garden about 20' from my 4 hives (1 overwintered; 2 nucs and a split nuc). We were cleaning up the garden this weekend and there was a lot of overgrown thyme plants with lots of dead "wood" in big pillows. My wife was on her knees pulling out the dead stuff when she screamed as she was being stung. I first thought (bees were under her) maybe ground hornets (though too early in season) since whatever was flying seemed to be between her and ground. As she sprinted away and I got closer it was clearly HB. She got pinged a couple times, including on the cheek so went in the house. 10 minutes later Genius Boy then proceeded to use a garden rake to scratch the dead stuff from the patches of thyme - and guess what? I only got stung 2x which doesn't bother me at this point, though I'll never enjoy being swarmed by a dozen or so angry bees and doing the idiot dance across my lawn (luckily not in plain sight of public). I don't have any hot hives at this time and often pop the lids and even manipulate a little without smoke in between inspections.
Is this a known phenomenon? Does thyme oil (~ thymol) elicit fury in HB? Maybe I should move (on a rainy day) that section of the herb garden to the further side?
Is this a known phenomenon? Does thyme oil (~ thymol) elicit fury in HB? Maybe I should move (on a rainy day) that section of the herb garden to the further side?