How often do you smoke?

[John Schwartz]

For me, depends on:

* Weather
* Temperament of the hive
* Time of year
* If going to just peek or move frames/boxes around
* If I need to chase queen down
* etc....

[sarafina]

Yeah, the vinegar-water worked great! I only got 1 sting tonight after doing some major inspection of the entire broodnest! The kids were sitting on a hive about 3 feet away (despite my asking them to back off a bit) and were perfectly fine.

What is the concentration of your mixture?  I would like to try this next time I do an inspection.

[qa33010]

Never if I'm just popping in to see if there is a harvest to be had.  Otherwise I always have the smoker lit and available along with a sprayer of sugar water (when the bottle is available) in case they are needed.  Always have the smoker though.

[Michael Bush]

If I don't plan on looking for a queen and I plan to do very much I light the smoker.  I probably give them a puff.  That is usually the appropriate amount anyway.  Doing queen rearing, usually I AM looking for a queen so usually I don't even light the smoker.

[Cockatoo]

OK I just went and popped the top on mine to see if they're drawing out comb yet on the new frames.
Without smoke I had 5 come out and leave stingers in my gloves.
And one butted my face net and followed me all the way back to the house.
So I lit the smoker and puffed a little under the top.
Not one aggressive bee after that.

[David LaFerney]

If I don't plan on looking for a queen and I plan to do very much I light the smoker.  I probably give them a puff.  That is usually the appropriate amount anyway.  Doing queen rearing, usually I AM looking for a queen so usually I don't even light the smoker.

Why not when looking for the queen?

[Michael Bush]

If you smoke the queen tends to run.  If you don't she will be laying in the brood nest.  She's much easier to find if she's not running.