Smoking... what is it's real effect?

[NasalSponge]

I guess I am one of those guys that believes in my experience ......smoke works, I have experienced this, that is all I need. I have told people for years that when I use smoke the bees gorge on honey and like us after a big meal they just want to chill. Is that a factual statement?? Don't know but it works. :-D

[Wynoochee_newbee_guy]

I guess I am one of those guys that believes in my experience ......smoke works, I have experienced this, that is all I need. I have told people for years that when I use smoke the bees gorge on honey and like us after a big meal they just want to chill. Is that a factual statement?? Don't know but it works. :-D

Yes true to a point they do engorge on honey for the same reason you might run in to your home and get your money out of your mattress if your home was on fire. second reason smoke works is it masks the phermone hope i spelled that right. that alarms the bees to your being there if you get stung smoke the area were you got stung.

[Michael Bush]

IMO it covers the alarm pheromone.  I open a lot of hives with and without smoke.  Without because I'm going to be finding a queen and smoke is not helpful in that regard, and with when I'm not looking for a queen to keep them calm.  In both cases the workers are filling up with honey/nectar.

[jeremy_c]

So, pretty much everyone is agreeing that using smoke causes the bees to horde honey because it tricks them into thinking they may have to evacuate very soon. What does this actually do to the bees? How long does this effect stay? What do they do with the honey they gorged on? How much time did we actually disrupt the normal flow of the hive?

Jeremy

[Michael Bush]

>So, pretty much everyone is agreeing that using smoke causes the bees to horde honey because it tricks them into thinking they may have to evacuate very soon.

I didn't.  I think they fill up on honey every time you open the hive, with or without smoke.  And I open several a night every day of the week and a hundred or so on weekends virtually all of them without smoke because I'm looking for queens...

Opening the hive disrupts the hive, not the smoke.  They gorge, even without the smoke, and then when you close up they put it all back and get back to work.  But I'm sure things aren't really "normal" for at least a day, but they are back to working in a few minutes.

[harvey]

Ok  a comment from probably one of the newest people with bees,, Won't call myself a beekeeper by any mean yet. 

Found a swarm two and a half weeks ago  helped pick it out of a small tree with just a pair of leather gloves.  pickedem up right in my hand.  Very docile bee's.  Two days later they had started building comb in a cardboard box, i opened the cardboard box up and  dumped them into a brood box a friend gave me.  Those happy bees just melted in between the frames!  I pulled the new comb they had built and after reading that they liked sugar water put the comb at the front entrance and poured sugar water in or on the comb with no gloves veil or smoke.  A week went buy and I had ordered more hive boxes, another deep and two supers.  I went out and pulled a couple of the frames to look at the bees,  no problem they were so gentle and docile.  I got ready to put the second box on and placed two frames that were covered with bees and honey and some brood (I think) in the top box.  Then I put two new frames in the bottom box.  I wanted to look at another covered frame cause I have never seen a queen bee.  I picked the frame up about six inches and slipped dropping it.  Those very docile gentle friendly bee's changed before my eyes!  I had an ole piece of vale on my head,  had a couple of holes in it.  The bee's literally bounced off of the veil.  I didn't get stung but am planning on learning how to smoke before I try that again.   

[JP]

Ok, here's my take on bees ingesting honey in access after smoking, simply put, they don't.

I remove a couple hundred hives each season, as well as work my own bees every season.

Removals average 4-6 hours and I always have my smoker at hand and use it mostly in the beginning of the removal process and in the end, when closing them up for transfer.

There is a small percentage consuming honey for a short period of time and then they're back to work. Of course if you smoke the bejesus out of them, they're going to consume a whole lot more.

On removals bees actually consume quite a bit of honey that seeps out once combs are cut and transferred. Any available honey is consumed in earnest.

Its just not the same when working hives, unless they are over smoked or honey is spilled.

My take on smoke's affect is it directs bees because of the heat and the actual smoke by product and its ability to mask alarm pheremone.


...JP

[Brian D. Bray]

Smoking the hive is used for 3 primary reasons:
1. It's use will direct the bees, make them move within the hive or on the frame much like a border collie and a herd of sheep.  It's used to herd the bees.
2. It causes confusion.  Confused bees don't know which way to turn (a lot like people in that regard) and the confusion represses the attact response.
3. It masks Phenomores like that of the banana smell that is usually recognized as the attact odor.  Since bees use phenomores for much of their communication the use of smoke inhibits the hives ability to organize against an invasion.

For example: A beekeeper gets stung on the back of the hand.  Removing the stinger does not remove the odors left behind from the detached stinger so that odor draws more bees to the same area and more stings result.  Smoking the sting sight will mask the odor enough so  that amid the other disruptions going on so  that more stings to that sight are much fewer, if any more.
Smoking the bees as you move from frame to frame directs the bees away from the top bars of the frame so the beekeeper can grasp the frames without squishing bees, squishing will definitely draw a sting response. It also drives the bees away for the edges when replacing or adding supers so the beekeeper doesn't squish bees which can get him stung.

[JP]

Besides smoking the area where stung I also rub honey on the spot, this works well to discourage them from stinging that same spot again.


...JP