Using Smoke

challenger · April 21, 2009, 11:00:01 AM

I use smoke all the time unless I'm just looking into the top. Once the bees sting they are hard to stop and it takes a fair amt. of time for them to forget the alarm mode.
I also like to use smoke because it makes the bees drop a good amt of Varroa. With screen botttoms I'l sometimes keep the top cover on and smoke the hives like a building on fire. This is done w/o honey supers of course and it riles the bees up and my sticky board shows that they drop a lot more Varroa when I do this-maybe 1-2 times/summer.
I don't like to use a veil and the smoke helps them bury their heads and keeps them off me.
That being said I wish I didn't feel I had to use it-PIA to keep just the right amt. of cool smoke going and it's another item I have to keep up with.

iddee · April 26, 2009, 10:01:18 PM

I would like to see someone post a poll asking if you use smoke and number of years you have kept bees. My guess is you will find the less smoke used, the newer the beek. The old timers know it is needed.

Two Bees · April 27, 2009, 02:09:43 PM

Or perhaps the survey would find that new beeks use either too much or too little smoke............

And the veterans use just the right amount that they have learned after handling bees for a number of years!

Brian D. Bray · April 27, 2009, 11:21:23 PM

Just remember that it is just as important to use smoke exiting the hive as entering it. A little smoke between frames as they are pushed back together keeps a lot of bees and many a queen from being squished.

Two Bees · April 28, 2009, 09:57:07 AM

Absolutely, Brian! I learned that little trick the hard way. Trying to brush them off of the hive edges only irritated them and they landed right back on the box edge. By using a little smoke, they ran down into the hive and left the box edges clean. No problem putting supers or inner covers on after that!

challenger · April 30, 2009, 11:56:58 AM

To what degree does smoking a hive set the colony back? In almost all books I've read it mentions this and I am curious what this means. If the bees are gorging themselves to leave the hive due to a fire then these would typically be house bees so foragers would still be wanting to forage and not be full of honey to the point that they will not produce honey during the flow I am thinking.
Is there a minimum that would be OK for a quick inspection that would not cause such a "setback"?

Two Bees · April 30, 2009, 12:23:36 PM

Smoking and opening a hive typically sets back "progress" in the hive from few hours to maybe a day.

iddee · April 30, 2009, 12:28:07 PM

>>>>Is there a minimum that would be OK for a quick inspection that would not cause such a "setback"?<<<<

Any disturbance of the hive will set them back some, if only 10 minutes. As for a minimum amount of smoke, many of the old time beeks would just use their cigar for smoke. That is how little it takes to calm the bees most times.

Rich V · April 30, 2009, 04:00:58 PM

I really try not to use it, but sometimes I have too.I'll keep it lit close by.

challenger · May 04, 2009, 02:19:09 PM

OK so what exactly does "set the hive back" mean? does it mean the queen stops laying? I don't think so because an observation hive I've made will have the queen laying in a very short time after being smoked.
Does it mean less nectar? I don't understand this either as the foragers transfer their nectar to other house bees to deposit in honey cells???
Thanks-Howard

Michael Bush · May 06, 2009, 08:11:02 PM

>That is how little it takes to calm the bees most times.

Exactly. I think a puff of smoke sets them back and upsets them less than no smoke. A lot of smoke, of course, is another matter.

Brian D. Bray · May 07, 2009, 03:30:13 AM

Quote from: challenger on May 04, 2009, 02:19:09 PM
OK so what exactly does "set the hive back" mean? does it mean the queen stops laying? I don't think so because an observation hive I've made will have the queen laying in a very short time after being smoked.
Does it mean less nectar? I don't understand this either as the foragers transfer their nectar to other house bees to deposit in honey cells???
Thanks-Howard

Anytime a hive is open and inspected it is set back. A set back is a disruption of the bees routine, order of the hive, or other factor. Not putting the frames back in the hive exactly as found is setting the hive back. Pulling the brood frames out of 3 boxes and consolidating them into 2 boxes and installing a queen excluder is setting the hive back. Each set back is of greater degree than the other. Some set backs, like removing queen cages, only disrupts the hive for a few hours, other things like reordering the brood combs can set the hive back a week or more.

I've had queen laying eggs in the combs as I was handling them so egg laying isn't essentially a set back but the order of activity in the hive can have profound affect depending on the actons taken by the beekeeper. You can't enter a hive without a set back of some sort, even if it is only a disruption of capping honey cells. feeding larvae, or having to reglue to frames together with more propolis.