bee keeping

[kopend]

why do bee keepers spray the bees with smoke

[burnhal]

to make them less active to allow moving of swarms or opening hives. Some schools of thought say the smoke makes them sleepy but it seems it cases them to gorge on honey and this makes them drowsy

[Clanad]

Actually, burnhal isn't far off the mark... iso-pentyl acetate is a chemical pheromone released by the "guard" worker bees (in reality, older bees that have more venom) that are mostly near the entrance to the hive if the hive is attacked. (The guard bees can't yell, hence the pheromone). This chemical release would, normally, incite the other bees to attack as well, but the smoke prevents the release of this pheromone, therefore, the other bees aren't made excitable. Additionally, the smoke entering the hive is sensed by the bees as a prelude to a fire and, in the wild, they would consume as much honey as possible to carry it away from the fire threatened hive. They are busy eating as much honey as possible, which keeps them focused on that activity, rather than attempting to sting someone or something, especially since they have not received the required warning... ingenious, no?

We try not to use to much smoke to enable the bees to recover quickly and stop their frenzied eating activity. It just takes a few squirts from the smoke generator...

[Joe_the_Lion]

Excuse my ignorance clannad, but why would you want the bees to eat the honey? Surely you want as much honey as possible.

[Clanad]

The time the honeybees spend gorging themselves is very short, no more than 5 minutes at most. The amount of honey lost is negligible. The smoke is applied to the hive in the field so the "supers" (individual parts of the stack making up the hive) can be inspected for anumber of reasons... health of the hive, honey content as well as disease and pest infection. At the end of the season, the supers are taken apart to collect the honey, in which case the bees are smoked to calm them while the hives are deconstructed... Thanks for the inquiry. I've kept bees for a number of years, learning most of what I know from my grandfather who was abee keeper most of his 90 years...